Manchester City Have One Last Chance: Advance or Be Knocked Out of Champions League

Manchester City punya satu pertandingan lagi untuk mengamankan kelolosan ke fase gugur Liga Champions (Instagram/@mancity).

JAKARTA - Pep Guardiola said Manchester City have one last chance to save their journey in the Champions League after a 2-4 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, Thursday, January 23, 2025, at the Parc des Princes.

The Citizens' position in the standings is very unfavorable. The 2023 Champions League champions are stranded in 25th place with eight points, aka outside the knockout phase playoff zone.

There is still one match left in the group phase to save Manchester City from being eliminated early in the Champions League.

They must beat Club Brugge at the Etihad on January 30, 2025. However, victory also does not promise The Citizens to join the knockout phase playoff zone because they must depend on the results of other teams' matches.

"We have a last chance against Brugge. If we don't qualify, it's because we don't deserve it."

"Tonight, they (PSG) played better. Congratulations to PSG and accept it. The law of football is like that."

"How intense and aggressive they are in key positions. You have to recover players and do better," Guardiola told reporters after the match.

Manchester City had taken a 2-0 lead against PSG through goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.

However, the situation quickly turned around. They surrendered the lead and eventually lost convincingly to the hosts.

"Their players played better. They played better in the duels. We found the moment at 2-0, but in the first half they had two clear chances," said Guardiola.

Manchester City have turned around nine times after being in the lead this season.

Meanwhile, the defeat at PSG's headquarters was their third consecutive away defeat in the Champions League.

In fact, they had previously played 12 away games without defeat in Europe's biggest club tournament.

Guardiola said he felt Manchester City's defeat was due to being unable to dominate the game in midfield against an energetic PSG.

"When they had the ball, we created problems. After 2-0 and especially 2-1, we could not play. You have to play with the ball and they played better.

"They have an extra player in the middle with a false nine and it's difficult. They played better.

"They have one more player in the middle and we hope with build-up and more aggressiveness." "But they pressed very well and we couldn't do the process. The connection with Bernardo (Silva) and Kova (Mateo Kovacic) was not possible or good. We couldn't do the process," said Guardiola.

Guardiola said Manchester City could not overcome PSG in transition play. This problem must be resolved immediately by Guardiola if he wants to bring his team back up.

The reason is, the next match is quite difficult because they have to host Chelsea in the Premier League on January 26, 2025.

"We have to defend with the ball, it is impossible to play well without it. PSG played better in their game."

"Today they were able to do it. In the big stages, big teams, we fight. We have to accept it."

"Recover for the game against Chelsea. We have to recover our game. We have to recover against Chelsea in the next game and keep going," said the Spanish coach.