Pep Guardiola and five of his Manchester City charges were slapped with humiliating ratings by French newspaper L’Equipe after their capitulation at PSG.
City were 2-0 up after 56 minutes at the Parc des Princes before the French champions somehow scored four goals in a rain-lashed second half to send them spiralling.
PSG dominated and punished City for their frailty and Guardiola’s men risk dropping out of the Champions League going into the final matchday.
They must beat Club Brugge next week to sneak into the knockout play-offs – and would then be paired with a seeded opponent over a two-leg tie to try and make the last 16.
The likes of Brest and Celtic have had better campaigns than City and their woes were only compounded by the brutal ratings doled out by L’Equipe.
Guardiola, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, Manuel Akanji, and Ederson all came in for 4/10 and the team average was only 4.6.
Pep Guardiola and five of his Man City stars were given 4/10 ratings by L’Equipe after their 4-2 loss to PSG
Erling Haaland ‘struggled to impose himself physically’ although he did get on the scoresheet
Phil Foden was described as a ‘disappearing’ act as he was handed a 5/10 for his showing
L’Equipe blamed Guardiola for the team’s downfall, writing: ‘In keeping with his tactical choices over the past month, the Spaniard clearly agreed to give up possession to PSG (only 36 per cent), which his team, physically worn out at the end of the match, ended up paying for.
‘Even if the entry of Jack Grealish proved judicious, the same cannot be said of the starting position of Matheus Nunes as right back.’
City were indeed on the back foot for large swathes of the match and surrendered a total of 26 shots to their hosts, having only nine themselves.
Bernardo Silva was the only Cityzens star to score as high as a six. Erling Haaland, Nunes, Josko Gvardiol, and Phil Foden were all given 5/10.
L’Equipe claimed that Haaland ‘struggled to impose himself physically’ while Foden ‘disappeared in the second half’.
PSG looked to have gone in front before the break but Achraf Hakimi’s bullet goal was ruled out due to Nuno Mendes’ knee being offside.
Substitute Jack Grealish and Haaland gave City a fortuitous lead early in the second half with close-range goals arising from some comedy mishaps at the back from PSG.
But City’s comfort didn’t last for long and by the hour mark, PSG were back on level terms after finishes from Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola.
Kevin De Bruyne’s performance was described as ‘unusual’ and was one of the stars given a 4/10 by L’Equipe
The result leaves Man City needing a victory in their final game to scrape into the knockout play-offs
PSG scored four in a second-half blitz as Bradley Barcola lit up the Parisian night
PSG took a 3-2 lead on 78 minutes thanks to Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos rubbed salt in the wounds with a stoppage-time goal.
‘We suffered and they were better – better intensity to win duels,’ Guardiola said. ‘In the big stages, the big teams, we struggle. We have to accept it.
‘We have a last chance against Brugge. If we don’t do it then it’s because we don’t deserve it.
‘We have to defend with the ball or it’s impossible to play well,’ he added. ‘Keep the ball, the extra pass. The connection with Bernardo (Silva) and (Mateo) Kovacic was not possible or not good and we could not make the process. I tried different things but we couldn’t keep the ball.’
The City boss has blamed home draws with Feyenoord and Inter for their precarious position in the competition and that was echoed by scorer of the opening goal, Jack Grealish.
‘Usually in these moments we’re so good,’ Grealish said. ‘It’s happened too many times this season; when we’ve gone one goal, two goals up, even three against Feyenoord, and we’ve not been able to control the game and see it out.
‘It’s weird because in every other season we’ve been so good in these moments, managing the game. I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing because we know that for most of this season, especially before Christmas time, we weren’t really at the levels that we know we can do.
‘But it’s down to ourselves to try and change that moving forward. We have so many players on the pitch when we go two goals up that are so good with the ball, at keeping it. But we’ve not been doing that recently and that’s down to us.’
