Pep Guardiola regretted Manchester City’s failure to hold on to a 2-0 lead after they suffered a 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain this evening that left their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.
City now need to beat Club Brugge at the Etihad next week to have any chance of reaching the play-offs after a sobering night in the French capital.
Goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland appeared to have put City in control but PSG, who began the evening in danger themselves, stormed back.
Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola brought PSG level before Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos completed a remarkable comeback with late tries.
Man City slips into the Champions League elimination zone after defeat against PSG 📉 pic.twitter.com/sgLURkV5rB
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Guardiola told TNT Sports: “The game was never the way we wanted it to be, but I give PSG a lot of credit for that. “They are an exceptional team. But at 2-0, if we could do it… but they scored straight after.
“Then if we could keep the ball a little bit and stay like that, it would have been better, but we didn’t do it.
“To defend the result you have to keep the ball and we didn’t do that. They had it more, they attacked better and that’s why it was difficult.
“I accept defeat because the best team won.”
We have one last chance – Pep
Exit from the competition at this early stage would be a huge blow for City in a disappointing season, but Guardiola admitted it was now a possibility.
He added: “We have one last chance at home against Club Brugge. If we win, hopefully we can qualify.
“If we don’t win, we don’t deserve it. Sporting is tough, PSG is tough, Juventus is tough, all the away games we had were difficult. That is the reality. We didn’t get enough points. The last game against Brugge will tell us what we have to do.”
