MAHREZ LIGHTS UP PARIS
Winger’s free-kick crowns Manchester City fightback and puts Pep on the brink of final
Appoint a former tottenham manager and it can hardly be a surprise that things suddenly turn a bit Spursy at paris Saint-Germain.
Mauricio pochettino’s team were in control at half-time. they were a goal ahead, and much the better side. the few chances Manchester City had created mostly came from errors by the home team, so it wasn’t perfect; but it was pretty darn good.
neymar looked the best player on the pitch, Kylian Mbappe’s pace terrorised; Angel di Maria was putting in corners that should have come accompanied by air raid warnings. And then it fell apart. City came out after half-time a different side and credit to them, and pep Guardiola, for that.
Yet pSG’s reaction to this challenge was neurotic. neymar disappeared — although so did his service — goalkeeper Keylor navas flapped, the defence crumbled.
Mbappe did not muster a single shot at goal, a Champions League first. pSG surrendered two goals in seven minutes to calamitous errors, then had central midfielder idrissa Gueye sent off for a horrible challenge on ilkay Gundogan. this was a great night for
Manchester City — but what the hell happened to pSG?
By the end they were a petulant rabble, swarming around referee Felix Brych to try to get Kevin De Bruyne sent off for a tackle on Danilo that was not even half of Gueye’s. Had De Bruyne not skimmed the bar with a late effort this tie could have been close to over.
it is not yet, of course. not when pochettino can lean on such an outstanding forward triumvirate. Yet, make no mistake, this was a huge win. it was november 21, 2000, when pSG last took the lead in a Champions League tie at home and lost — 3- 1 against Deportivo La Coruna — and no English team that has ever won a first leg away in this competition has failed to progress. if they go out now, Manchester City will have ended a 47-game run.
What a good team City are, the way they can flip the script. Having first looked to have met their match, they were suddenly brimming with confidence again, pressing higher, measured on the ball and dominating possession, a change of mood epitomised in the 61st minute when De Bruyne came close with a flamboyant overhead kick. By then, pSG couldn’t get out of their own half and, as the intensity grew, so they cracked.
the equaliser began with a brilliant run by Kyle Walker, the sort of impetus missing from City’s game in the first half. His pace seemed to even catch his own players by surprise. they couldn’t keep up with him, but Marquinhos did — just about — and put the ball out for a corner.
City worked it around the perimeter of the area until it found De Bruyne, top left. He delivered a cross so smart it left a goalkeeper with the experience of navas utterly bamboozled. He thought one of his men might get a touch, or maybe John Stones, but no-one did. Flat-footed and poorly positioned, he saw the ball curl straight in. it wasn’t even high. Six minutes later, a second implosion.
Leandro paredes fouled phil Foden in a dangerous position. De Bruyne stood over a ball that was perfectly positioned for his shot.
that’s certainly what pSG expected. they had the prone guard lying down and four men ready to block. Yet when Riyad Mahrez surprised everyone by taking it instead, the quartet flinched and left a gap which the ball found. navas was nowhere again.
in the 78th minute, Gueye was shown a straight red for a nasty high tackle on Gundogan, and will miss the return leg. pSG tried to claim equivalency for De Bruyne’s foul on Danilo soon after but it was as unconvincing as the rest of their second half display.
Whither neymar on nights like this? there is an argument that, far from being the game’s superstar, he is actually one of its most under-rated players. not in terms of status, salary or value but because he is so often seen as a riddle to be solved, rather than an asset. Yet here was the case for the prosecution. For the first half, in a match overflowing with wit and technical excellence, he was the best player on the field. For the second, a ghost.
neymar at his best is mesmerising. He found space where none seemingly existed, operated neatly between City’s lines, his close control was hypnotic, his pace unnerving. When he went down holding his left elbow after a clash with Joao Cancelo, every neutral will have been willing him to get up and continue his spectacular show.
And when neymar is spectacular so too are pSG. they had an excellent opening 45 minutes, created the best chances, snuffed out City’s danger and only let them in on rare occasions when a pass or a throw went astray.
City claimed two chances like that, and another from a speculative deep ball from Cancelo to Bernardo Silva. the rest was all pSG, and often neymar.
the sole complaint would be he should have scored after two minutes. Rodri gave the ball up sloppily in midfield and pSG were away through Mbappe, who fed neymar at the far post. Walker put him under pressure and took some of the sting out of the shot which made its way, tamely, to Ederson.
Better was a chance in the 13th minute, neymar playing a one-two with Marco Verratti before firing a shot that forced an excellent save. two minutes later, pSG were ahead and deservedly so.
one of the strengths of pochettino’s team is that they have so many potential routes to goal. Unlike the modern tottenham, so reliant on Harry Kane and Son
Heung-min, this is not just about Mbappe and Neymar.
Marquinhos is one of the most prolific goalscoring defenders in Europe, and he broke the deadlock. Di Maria whipped in a corner from the right and PSG’s captain lost his man, Gundogan, attacking the ball with a fury City could not resist. Ederson would have seen little more than a blue-red blur. The header gave him no chance.
Soon after, Parades should have converted Neymar’s corner at the near post, having got much the better of Ruben Dias in the air.
Yet the frailties that would decide the second half could be glimpsed in preview. In the 32nd minute, Navas’s poor attempt at restarting play resulted in Foden trying to pick out Silva in the centre, Paredes making an excellent clearance.
Ten minutes later, PSG served the ball up cheaply in midfield and Gundogan squared to Foden in the middle. This was a huge chance to equalise but Foden tried to finesse his finish and ended up shooting straight at Navas, and at a helpful height too.
Guardiola’s grimace on the touchline told its own story. It looked much like Pochettino’s at the end.