A record European home crowd of 60,021, saw the French champions race into a three-goal first half lead through Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha.
Erling Haaland pulled a goal with a record-breaking 37th European goal for City before the comeback was hit by a fourth from Maghnes Akliouche.
But Enzo Maresca’s men kept fighting for the points with Enzo Fernández and Haaland hitting the woodwork before the Norwegian pulled another goal back.
Gianluigi Donnarumma saved a late penalty from Ferran Torres but the French champions saw out the win.
The match in brief
There were fireworks before kick-off and an explosive start from the French side who showed their attacking menace in the opening quarter of an hour with two goals in two minutes.
Doue was on the end of a quick break to drive in a low shot from the edge of the box before sending over a cross to the far post that was headed home by Dembele.
It was a painful blow after a promising start that saw City push the French side back with Marquinhos potentially fortunate to get away with a clumsy challenge on Rayan Cherki inside the box.
And from the corner, goalkeeper Matvei Safonov punched the ball against his own crossbar although the referee subsequently gave a foul against Marc Guéhi.
Buoyed by the two-goal margin, the visitors continued to threaten with Achraf Hamiki heading against the inside of the post before Vitinha rounded off a quick move with a well-taken third.
City went close to pulling a goal back when Joško Gvardiol headed narrowly wide and Jérémy Doku forced a save from Safonov but the half ended in frustration.
Enzo Maresca made a triple substitution at half-time and it almost paid immediate dividends with Haaland teeing up Antoine Semenyo but his effort was deflected wide and then headed Enzo Fernández just wide.
But Iliman Ndiaye was stretching the visitors’ defence and after forcing a point-blank save from Safonov, his teasing cross was flicked home by Haaland.
The momentum was with City until the French side added a fourth with their first shot of the half when Gianluigi Donnarumma failed to keep out Akliouche’s effort from 20 yards.
Still City kept fighting with Gvardiol’s header cleared off the line, Fernandez striking the corner of post and bar and Haaland also hitting the top of the woodwork.
The Norwegian found the back of the net again on in the 75th minute when he finished off Ayyoub Bouaddi’s low cross.
A hat-trick and potential barnstorming finished was denied by a desperate save from PSG’s Russian keeper before Donnarumma then frustrated former Blue Ferran Torres from the penalty spot.
TEAMS
City: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias (Nunes 46), Guéhi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández (O’Reilly 90), Semenyo, Cherki (Bouaddi 46), Doku (Ndiaye 46), Haaland.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Rulli, Kovačić, Aït-Nouri, Reis, Allan, Foden, Lewis.
PSG: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos (C), Pacho, Mendes, Vitinha, Zaire-Emery (Lucas Beraldo 84), Ruiz (L Hernanedez 84), Doue (Kvaratskhelia 66), Akliouche (Joao Neves 76), Dembele (Torres 76).
Subs not used: Chevalier, Mouak, Zabarnyi, Digne, Godts, Dro Fernandez, Ndjantou.
Heading clear
Haaland’s header was his 37th goal for Champions League, surpassing Sergio Aguero on 36 in the tournament proper.
It’s a phenomenal record as he overtook our record goalscorer in all competitions, who also scored a hat-trick in a Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest which is not counted in his 36 goals tally.
Haaland’s total has come from just 41 games and a second took his overall tally in the competition to 61, moving him into seventh.
Welcome back Pep!
Tonight’s match was the first time that Pep Guardiola returned to the Etihad Stadium following his remarkable decade-long reign.
It was an opportunity to see his close friend in PSG boss Luis Enrique but also to be back at the Club that he loves after 10 years here.
There’s no doubting that Manchester has had a big impact on him and, still does, judging by his traditional flat cap.
But it was wonderful to see him back at the stadium, even though it wasn’t quite the result he would have wanted.
MARESCA REACTION
“I think we start quite good until the first goal and then we concede the second one after one minute. That created some bad feelings. Second half, we were much better and probably deserved something more.
“It was a bit strange, to be honest. Until the first goal, we started quite good, we were in the game, then we conceded the first and then the second one. We didn’t lose half-time, we adjusted something. We created enough to deserve something more.
“We adjusted a bit when we were pressing. I think we lost a bit of the balance.
“Even with 3-0 in the first half, with the amount of chances we created in the second half, we deserved more. Luis said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today.
“You have to be clinical but not lose the balance.”
Guéhi REACTION
“First half we need to do a lot better myself included for the first two goals. They were a bit more aggressive.
“Second half was the complete opposite, we were a lot more aggressive.we won a lot more of the duels which gave us the platform to go and score those goals.
“Not the best first-half but a lot of positives to take from the second-half.
“It says a lot about not just the players but the football club in general, the fans stuck by us the whole game. The support was amazing.
“I think every single person knew that as long as we keep fighting, there was something there for us. I think it’s only the beginning of the competition. Hopefully we can learn from this and put better performances in future games.”
| 16 |
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Club Brugge
Brugge
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2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
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| 17 |
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Manchester City
Man City
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2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
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| 18 |
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Borussia Dortmund
BVB
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2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
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WHAT IT MEANS
City drop to 17th in the 36-team Champions League table after two matches while Les Parisiens now sit on top.
WHAT’S NEXT
We’re back at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday when we return to Premier League action with the visit of Ipswich Town at 15:00 (UK).
Our next game in the Champions League is also at the Etihad, on Tuesday, 20 October with a 20:00 (UK) kick-off.
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