Pep Guardiola admitted that “the best team won” after Manchester City's capitulation against Paris Saint-Germain.
City dropped to 25th in the Champions League rankings on Wednesday after falling 4-2 behind in Paris.
Guardiola's team took a 2-0 lead early in the second half through Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.
Yet a spectacular collapse saw them concede to Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos as PSG completed the turnaround and put City's hopes on the line heading into their final game of the league stage.
“We had our moments and they had their moments, but they were better,” Guardiola told TNT Sports.
“They were faster, faster, they won the games, we couldn't handle it. They were fast. The best team won. The match was never what we wanted.
“To play you have to play. To defend the result you have to keep the ball – we didn't have that. They had it more, they attacked better, that's why it was more difficult.”
Here are the Opta Supercomputer projections after tonight's matches and with just one matchday remaining in the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League competition phase.
Stay tuned at pic.twitter.com/yoJYbJOBry
— Opta analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 22, 2025
City now need to beat Club Brugge at home in their final match if they want to reach the play-offs for the knockout stages.
When asked about the possibility of 2023 Champions League winners City falling through, Guardiola said: “It could happen. We'll see.
'If we don't win [against Brugge] we don't deserve it. All the away games we have are difficult, but it is the reality. We didn't score enough points.”
Guardiola, who waved his arms wildly in frustration for much of the match, said the match was lost in midfield, where his side are sorely missing Ballon d'Or winner Rodri.
“In football, everything happens in the middle,” he said. “We have one last chance at home, we will do everything there.”
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