Pep Guardiola lamented Manchester City's inability to maintain a 2-0 lead after their 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain tonight left their Champions League hopes dangling by a thread.
City must now beat Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium next week to have any chance of pressing for the playoffs after a quiet night in the French capital.
Goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland seemed to put City ahead but Paris Saint-Germain, who started the evening in danger, came back strong.
Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barkola equalized for Paris Saint-Germain before late efforts by Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos completed a remarkable comeback.
Manchester City slips into the Champions League elimination zone after losing to Paris Saint-Germain 📉 pic.twitter.com/sgLURKV5rB
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“The game was never what we wanted, but that's why I give a lot of credit to PSG,” Guardiola told TNT Sports. “They're an exceptional team. But the score would have been 2-0 if we could have done that… but they scored right after that.”
“Then if we could keep the ball a little bit and stay like that it would have been better but we couldn't do it.
“To defend the score you have to keep the ball and we didn't do that. They had more possession, they attacked better, that's why it was difficult.
“I accept defeat because the better team won.”
We have one last chance – Pep
Being eliminated from the competition at this early stage would be a bitter blow for City in what has been a disappointing season, but Guardiola admitted that 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 difficult, Paris Saint-Germain is difficult, Juventus is difficult, and all the matches we played away from home were difficult. That's the reality. We didn't get enough points. The last match against Brugge will determine what we have to do.” ».
