Manchester City shortly before Champions League departure after PSG collapse

Manchester City shortly before Champions League departure after PSG collapse

The turbulent Season of Manchester City Catastrophic 4: 2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the champions-league group phase. This defeat brings the reigning master of Premier League to the edge of the elimination from the tournament, since a victory in the last group game against Club Brugge is necessary for the team to have a chance to get on.

Problems in the team

But the defeat also draws attention to major problems in the club. The rainy night in Paris revealed the team's weaknesses this season. In recent years, City has been a winning machine under Pep Guardiola, who is considered the best coach in the history of football, but now the team is only a shadow of himself.

defeat against PSG

It should have been a relaxed evening against PSG after Erling Haaland and Jack Grialish gave the team in the second half with two goals. However, as was often the case this season, City played his leadership while PSG scored four goals to turn the result.

"You (PSG) were better and we have to accept that," Guardiola told reporters after the game. "We have the last chance at home against Brugge and will give everything there. If not, it is because we don't deserve it." Despite the leadership, City continued to show vulnerability against the speed of PSG, especially Bradley Barcola, who proved to be particularly difficult to manage.

The course of the game

The 22-year-old showed his explosive speed when he prepared the first goal of PSG in the 56th minute for Ousmane Dembélé and scored the equalizer four minutes later. João Neves then headed at the rear post in the 78th minute to put the host in the lead before Gonçalo Ramos completed the result in added time.

"We had our moments and they had theirs, but they were better," Guardiola told TNT Sports. "They were faster, more agile, won the duels, we couldn't keep up. The best team won. The game was never as we wanted."

table status and other games

City is now on the 25th place in the Champions League table, just outside the qualification places for the playoffs and has only collected eight points from seven group games so far. On another Wednesday, Bayern Munich suffered a surprising 3-0 defeat against the Dutch club Feyenoord, which the Munich project to automatically qualify for the K.-O. round. The top eight teams are moving directly into the next round, and Bavaria is now taking 15th place, one point behind the automatic qualification places.

Two goals from Santiago Giménez and one of Ayase Ueda secured the memorable victory for Feyenoord, which has now overtaken Bavaria and ranks 11th. The six -time European champion Bavaria plays in the last round against Slovan Bratislava and needs a little luck from other games to qualify among the top 8. The teams, which are between the ninth and the 24th place, compete against each other in a further return game to determine whether they are moving into the knockout round.

Real Madrid back in the trail

A similar picture shows itself at the Spanish giant Real Madrid, who exhausted Red Bull Salzburg 5-1 on Wednesday. Two hits from rodrygo and vinícius jr. , as well as a goal from Kylian Mbappé, catapulted the 15-fold title holder to the 16th place in the table and show that the team has been in shape in a competition that has dominated in the past decade.

Los Blancos lost three times in the group phase this season and at times saw in danger of not qualifying for the next round. In the meantime, however, a playoff place has been secured and there is still the possibility that Madrid will continue automatically, the Brest team defeated on January 29th.

"We have to play the last game and see where we stand. There is not much to think about," Carlo Ancelotti told reporters after the game. "In the last game we have to beat Brest and see where we are in the table. It will be very difficult to get under the top eight."

The complete results of the Champions League on Wednesday

• RB Leipzig 2-1 Sporting CP
• Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Brest
• ac Milan 1-0 Girona
• Arsenal 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb
• Celtic 1-0 Young Boys
• Feyenoord 3-0 Bayern Munich
• PSG 4-2 Manchester City
• Real Madrid 5-1 Red Bull Salzburg
• Sparta Prague 0-1 Inter Milan