NOW TIME TO CRY, PEP

City boss shaken by his old pal as Messi’s golden boot seals fantastic Paris victory

BY GIDEON BROOKS

PEP GUARDIOLA was right to forewarn his players they would “suffer pain” in Paris last night against Mauricio Pochettino’s Galacticos.

And while they were made to wait until the 74th minute for the killer punch after a hardfought encounter, it arrived from exactly where the Manchester City boss predicted.

Lionel Messi’s first strike for Paris Saint-Germain since his summer move from the spiritual home he shares with Guardiola was a thunderbolt, the Argentine exchanging a onetwo with Kylian Mbappe and powering a left-foot shot inside the upright.

It confirmed a first defeat on the road in Europe for City since 2017-18.

And it also confirmed that PSG with Messi are going to be a very tough nut to crack for anyone this season.

An early goal from Idrissa Gueye (celebrating left) separated the sides in a pulsating encounter, which felt more like a late-stage knockout tie than matchday two.

City might feel aggrieved in a contest they were in throughout after hitting the bar twice. But ultimately this will be remembered for a moment of genius from the little Argentine.

Things have not gone quite to plan so far for Messi in Paris. Fitness issues and injury had limited his appearances to just three and he had yet to find the net.

But while he was not at his best here, if this was a test of how these two sides have moved on from last season’s semi-final, PSG remain a significant threat to all in this competition. The match started with a wall of noise and a blizzard of high-quality movement and passing, and it was the hosts whipping up the storm on and off the pitch. City were chasing shadows for much of the first quarter, Marco Verratti pulling strings in a midfield area in which, with Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva pushed further forward, PSG too easily overwhelmed the

isolated Rodri. They were rewarded for that spell of pressure and possession just eight minutes in, Mbappe wriggling his way to the right byline and cutting the ball back for Neymar.

The Brazil striker fluffed his effort but, fortunately for PSG, Gueye was tracking in behind him and buried his effort inside the top-right corner.

City were rattled and on the back foot, but they were not done for, and Neymar’s attempt to scorpion-flick the ball over his own head minutes later misread the room.

A piqued City clawed their way back, Joao Cancelo whipping a ball in that Nuno Mendes (with Raheem Sterling, left) kept off Bernardo’s foot.

On 26 minutes, City hit the bar twice in the space of mere seconds.

De Bruyne’s cross from the left found Sterling, his powerful header beating Gianluigi Donnarumma, only to come back down off the bar to Bernardo’s feet two yards out.

With the goal at his mercy, the Portuguese’s quick shot flew up and hit the bar again.

It was a bad miss and one PSG nearly punished as a wildly fluctuating half tore on. Ander

Herrera forced a good save from Ederson after a burst of pace from Mbappe but City had chances too – Ruben Dias’s header pushed around his post by the PSG goalkeeper the best of them.

City started the brighter in the second half forcing PSG to retreat in defence of their lead. But where last year they lost their heads, and a man, in both legs, here the French side kept their discipline.

With 15 minutes left, a swift counter from Messi down the right, a neat one-two, and a knockout blow from just inside the area which flew in.