PSG beat Manchester City 4-3 at Etihad in Champions League league-stage match on October 14, 2026
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Manchester City 4-3 at the Etihad Stadium in a Champions League league-stage match on October 14, 2026, with Maghnes Akliouche and Vitinha among the scorers and Erling Haaland netting twice for City. Ferran Torres missed a late penalty that might have altered the finish.
Pep Guardiola attended the game at the Etihad for the first time since his departure at the end of last season, sitting behind the City chair Khaldoon al-Mubarak and the chief executive Ferran "Not" Soriano, with numerous television cutaways to him. The match took place against the backdrop of the multiple guilty verdicts handed down to City over alleged financial breaches, which Guardiola has publicly addressed and said his former employers would seek to disprove. PSG entered the fixture as the defending European champions and Luis Enrique named a starting XI containing seven players who were on the 30-strong Ballon d'Or shortlist, plus a bench that featured three more from that list including João Neves and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The opening goal came from a sweeping PSG move that began deep on the right and ended with Fabián Ruiz playing the final pass to Désiré Doué on the left; Doué cut inside and fired low into the near corner from outside the area, a finish that left Gianluigi Donnarumma — described in the report as the former PSG goalkeeper — needing to do better at his post. Seventy-five seconds later PSG struck again through Ousmane Dembélé after a sequence involving two crosses: Dembélé first sent the ball out to Doué, who crossed back for Dembélé to steal in behind Marc Guéhi and head home.
PSG continued to press and extended their lead when Warren Zaïre-Emery produced a backheeled assist for Vitinha, who lashed home a low drive, with Achraf Hakimi also hitting the post from a header in the 32nd minute. By half-time City were three goals down and, at 39 minutes, Hakimi missed a one-on-one with Donnarumma as PSG maintained clear control of the opening period.
Enzo Maresca responded with a triple change at the interval, bringing on Matheus Nunes, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Iliman Ndiaye, and City’s play immediately improved. Enzo Fernández missed a headed chance, Ndiaye tested Matvei Safonov and then whipped in the cross from which Erling Haaland reduced the deficit with a neck-finished strike to the far corner.
City’s momentum was halted after a mistake by Donnarumma allowed Maghnes Akliouche to spin and blast home from the edge of the area, the goalkeeper apparently palming the ball up only for it to drop back down into the net to make it 4-1. The closing stages became frantic: Josko Gvardiol saw a header cleared off the line by Nuno Mendes, Fernández struck the outside of a post, Haaland looped a header against the crossbar before scoring his second from a low finish after Bouaddi’s involvement, and he was later denied a hat-trick by an excellent save from Safonov at a Matheus Nunes cross. City finished the match with 27 shots and 52 touches inside the opposition box.
City also had a late penalty by Ferran Torres that was struck weakly and saved by Donnarumma. The match therefore ended 4-3 to PSG despite the volume of City chances.
City must play under a cloud, certainly until their appeal against the charges is completed, and the Etihad crowd saw Guardiola in attendance for the first time since his departure at the end of last season.
