Guardiola was back at the Etihad for City’s first home game since the verdict, and PSG were 3-0 up by half-time
Erling Haaland scored twice and passed Sergio Agüero’s Champions League record for Manchester City, but Paris Saint-Germain won 4-2 in Manchester.
Oct 15, 2026
Manchester City’s first home game since they were found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules had fireworks, a mosaic and Pep Guardiola in a flat cap a row behind the chairman. It also had Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 up after 32 minutes. City lost 4-2 at the Etihad on Wednesday night, their first defeat of the season, and the half-time score probably flattered them.
The second half was a different game. Enzo Maresca changed three players at the break, Erling Haaland scored twice, City hit the woodwork twice, and Ferran Torres had a late penalty for PSG saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. It was not enough to undo the first 45 minutes.
Two goals in two minutes
City started well enough and pushed PSG back early on. Then Désiré Doué scored on a quick break with a low shot from the edge of the area in the 13th minute, and two minutes later he crossed for Ousmane Dembélé to head in at the far post. Achraf Hakimi headed against the inside of a post, and Vitinha finished off another fast move for the third on 32 minutes. Joško Gvardiol headed wide and Jérémy Doku forced a save from PSG goalkeeper Matvei Safonov, but City went in three down to the European champions.
“Until the first goal, we started quite good, we were in the game, then we conceded the first and then the second one,” Maresca said afterwards. “That created some bad feelings.”
Haaland passes Agüero
Maresca took off Rúben Dias, Rayan Cherki and Doku at half-time and sent on Matheus Nunes, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Iliman Ndiaye. Ndiaye made the difference straight away. He forced a point-blank save from Safonov, and in the 53rd minute his cross was flicked in by Haaland.
That was Haaland’s 37th Champions League goal for City, one more than Sergio Agüero, and it makes him the club’s record scorer in the competition. He has done it in 41 games.
City were on top when PSG scored again with their first shot of the half. Maghnes Akliouche hit it from 20 yards, Donnarumma got a hand to it against his old club, and the ball dropped behind him and in. That made it 4-1 just after the hour.
City kept coming. Gvardiol had a header cleared off the line, Enzo Fernández hit the angle of post and bar, and Haaland hit the top of the frame before he turned in Bouaddi’s low cross on 75 minutes. His second of the night took him to 61 Champions League goals, seventh on the all-time list. Safonov kept out a third, and Donnarumma’s penalty save from Torres, a former City player, stopped PSG getting a fifth.
What Maresca and Luis Enrique said
Maresca called PSG “the best team in Europe” and still thought City had done enough after the break to deserve something. “Luis said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today,” he said. Luis Enrique had been generous before kick-off too, when he was asked about the verdict and said of City’s titles: “The trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch.”
He can afford to be. His PSG side have now beaten City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Arsenal in the Champions League. They sit top of the 36-team table after two games. City, with one win and one defeat, are 17th.
I’d take more from this than the score suggests if I were a City fan. Sunday’s 3-0 at Anfield wasn’t a fluke, and for 45 minutes here they made the European champions look ordinary. The trouble is the first half. PSG scored three times in 19 minutes, and City spent the rest of the night chasing it.
What’s next
City are back in the Premier League against Ipswich Town at the Etihad on Saturday, with the league still waiting on sanctions and the club on its appeal. Their next Champions League game is also at home, against AEK Athens on Tuesday, 20 October.