Manchester City put up a stunning second-half fightback at Parc des Princes to beat 10-men Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in their first-leg Champions League semi-final clash on Wednesday.
Algerian international Riyad Mahrez struck the winner to leave Pep Guardiola’s men on the verge of reaching the Champions League final for the first time.
PSG captain Marquinhos headed home a pinpoint Angel Di Maria corner to give the French champions an early lead with just 15 minutes into the encounter as they played without a recognised striker yet again.
Phil Foden missed a sitter to level not long before half-time, but City’s rising star blasted the ball at Keylor Navas after being given time and space to pick a finish from 20 yards out.
As expected, City came out in the second half searching for an equaliser as PSG preferred to sit deeper and look to counter.
Finally, De Bruyne got the needed away goal for City after a teasing cross from the left flank evaded everybody including PSG keeper Navas, bouncing to nestle in the corner of the net with 64 minutes already gone.
However, it surely didn’t end there as Guardiola’s men pushed for a win seven minutes later.
City won a freekick and De Bruyne looked likely to strike it from 25 yards, but Mahrez fooled PSG by striking through an awful wall to beat a furious Navas.
The winner of this semifinal series will play either Chelsea or Real Madrid in the May 29 final in Istanbul. Chelsea drew Madrid 1-1 in the Spanish capital on Tuesday with U.S. star Christian Pulisic scoring the away goal to give the Blues a slight advantage heading into the second leg.
