Maresca apologises after Manchester City suffer PSG defeat in dramatic comeback

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca apologised for his side’s first-half performance after they were beaten 4-2 by Paris St Germain in his first defeat as City boss.

City trailed 3-0 at half-time in their first home match since an independent commission found them guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules. They denied wrongdoing and appealed the verdict.

Paris St Germain’s Desire Doue opened the scoring in the 13th minute before Ousmane Dembele doubled their advantage less than two minutes later. Warren Zaire-Emery then released Vitinha, who drove in the third in the 32nd minute.

City responded after the interval, with Erling Haaland scoring twice. His first, a 53rd-minute header from Iliman Ndiaye’s cross, made him the fastest player to reach 60 Champions League goals, having done so in 60 games compared with Lionel Messi’s previous record of 80.

Maghnes Akliouche restored PSG’s two-goal advantage with a long-range strike which Gianluigi Donnarumma got a hand to, but Haaland scored again in the 75th minute after receiving Ayyoub Bouaddi’s pass.

Donnarumma then redeemed himself by saving a penalty from Ferran Torres as PSG held on.

“I think we start quite well until the first goal [from Desire Doue in the 13th minute] and then we conceded the second one [by Ousmane Dembele] after one minute. That created some bad feelings,” Maresca told TNT Sports.

“In the second half, we were much better and probably deserved something more.”

City had almost twice as many shots as PSG and around three times as many touches in the opposition box. Their expected-goals figure was also higher at half-time and full-time, but the visitors were more clinical.

“Even at 3-0 [down] in the first half, with the amount of chances we created in the second half, we deserved more,” Maresca said. “Luis [Enrique, PSG’s manager] said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today.

“You have to be clinical but not lose the balance.”

The match took place amid the continuing fallout from the financial verdict, which has sent shockwaves through the Premier League and made City villains in the eyes of many. City fans in the South Stand displayed “CTID” (City Till I Die) cards, while former manager Pep Guardiola watched alongside chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak and senior executives Ferran Soriano and Hugo Viana.

City remain three points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League before Saturday’s home game against Ipswich.

“We are sorry for the first half for sure,” Maresca said. “Saturday is a Premier League game and we need to continue our run.”

Elsewhere on a night featuring 46 goals, Bradley Barcola scored a hat-trick as Liverpool beat LASK 6-3, while Aston Villa secured the biggest European victory in their history by defeating Fenerbahce 6-0. Nicolas Jackson and Ross Barkley scored twice for Villa, with Johan Manzambi, Tammy Abraham and Barkley’s penalty completing the win.

Real Madrid came from 3-1 down to beat AS Roma 4-3. Carlos Espi, Endrick and Antonio Ruediger scored late after Marten de Roon, Kylian Mbappe and Donyell Malen had found the net.

Liverpool’s other goals came from Ronald Araujo, Jeremie Frimpong and Lewis Koumas. Florian Flecker scored twice for LASK, who were beaten by Andoni Iraola’s side in Austria.