Manchester City managed to exact revenge for their loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the previous Champions League encounter when they put on a foxy display, courtesy of Pep Guardiola’s last-minute pre-game revised strategy, to beat the Parc des Princes club 2-1 on Wednesday as both clubs qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Brazilian hitman Gabriel Jesus tapped in brilliantly from Bernardo Silva’s slick knockdown in the 76th minute to to clinch the deal at the Etihad after Raheem Sterling had earlier cancelled out Kylian Mbappe’s opening goal that had been initiated, and also assisted in the final execution, by Lionel Messi.
Prior to Jesus driving the crowd wild in the Etihad stadium, PSG’s Brazilian dangerman, Neymar, unfortunately shot wide to squander the golden opportunity to put the Parisians ahead.
Although Messi, the remaining final key component in the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe trident had a low-key game in terms of goal-scoring, his presence and performance certainly did not go unnoticed as the PSG fans at the visitors’ end of the stadium were already ominously chanting his name even when teammate Mbappe scored the opening goal.
Noticeably also, although named among the substitutes, former Real Madrid skipper and defender Sergio Ramos was not called on to make his long-awaited PSG debut.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – the beaten finalists last season against Chelsea – emerged as leaders of Group A, while PSG qualified in second place despite the defeat as a formidable RB Leipzig thrashed Club Brugge 5-0 in Belgium.
Post-match, although disappointed his side did not emerge leaders in the Group, PSG head coach Mauricio Pochettino took comfort in the fact that his expensively-assembled side were showing improvement.
“We have to improve,” added Pochettino. “I am happy in the process. Things are better than one month ago and much better than two months ago. Little by little the team is going to improve.”