PARIS: Paris St-Germain clawed back from two goals down to stun Manchester City 4-2 in the Champions League on Wednesday and leave the English club outside the playoff places and in danger of elimination, while Arsenal all but secured their place in the last 16.

Goals from PSG’s Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos turned the match on its head after City had taken a 2-0 lead early in the six-goal second half.

“The team’s faith is unshakeable,” PSG manager Luis Enrique told reporters. “My team never gives up until the last second and we’ve often shown that.”

Substitute Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland struck in the 50th and 53rd minutes for City, but home fans braving torrential rain at Parc des Princes were treated to a brilliant comeback.

Dembele latched on to a cross from Barcola to sweep home a goal in the 56th minute. Then Barcola levelled four minutes later when he tucked in the rebound after Desire Doue’s blistering shot came back off the crossbar.

PSG parked themselves in City’s half and took the lead in the 78th minute when the visitors’ back line struggled to clear Vitinha’s free kick, leaving Neves to head in at the back post.

Ramos put the icing on the cake with a fine strike from just inside the 18-yard box, given after a lengthy VAR check for offside.

“To defend the result you have to keep the ball. We didn’t have it,” a deflated City manager Pep Guardiola told TNT Sports.

PSG climbed to 22nd in the table, while City, who hoisted the Champions League trophy in 2023 but have won just two of their seven group games, dropped to 25th, one spot below the playoff qualification spots.

“We accept the defeat because the best team won and we have a last chance (to qualify) at home against Club Brugge,” Guardiola said.

City’s loss sets up a nerve-jangling finale when they host Belgian side Brugge on Jan 29. The top eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16, while sides finishing ninth to 24th compete in two-legged knockout playoffs to secure their spot in the last 16.

“It could happen. We will see,” Guardiola said on City’s chances of going out before the knockouts. “If we don’t win (v Brugge) we don’t deserve it.”

The French side travel to VfB Stuttgart for their final game of the league phase.

Grealish had no answer for City’s letdown. “I don’t know, usually in these moments, we’re so good,” the midfielder told TNT. “Obviously, it’s happened too many times this season ... we’ve not been able to control the game and see it out.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal are on the verge of the last 16 as goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard sealed a 3-0 home win over Dinamo Zagreb — their fifth victory in seven games in Europe.

“It’s a massive step. We’re very close to achieving the goal we had before the group stage started,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports.

The Gunners, who go to Girona in their final game in the league phase, are third in the 36-team table and three points clear of ninth-placed Aston Villa with a far superior goal difference.

“Look it was an important win tonight. It’s been a very positive Champions League campaign, so we’ve got one more to go now, hopefully we can win that as well,” Rice told reporters.

“What I learnt from last year is that you need to be there or thereabouts at this time of the season and we are at the minute.”

MADRID CANTER, BAYERN FALTER

At the Santiago Bernabeu, Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior both struck twice, with Kylian Mbappe also on target as Real Madrid thumped Salzburg to move up to 16th, but just a point back from eighth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Mads Bidstrup slapped home a volley late on to offer Salzburg scant consolation, as well as carrying on Real’s unenviable run of conceding in each of their Champions League outings this season.

“We’ve been through difficult mom­ents we didn’t want to,” said Rodrygo. “But this victory in the Champions League, that we needed, will give us a lot of confidence to keep going now with the big challenges ahead of us.”

Brazilian winger Rodrygo struck twice in the first half to help Real take control, with Mbappe netting soon after the break and Vinicius grabbing a brace of his own to bring up a century of goals for the club.

“I’m very happy after reaching 100 goals with this shirt,” Vinicius told Movistar, noting he was close to Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo Nazario’s tally of 104.

Real — who became the first football club to top a billion euros in revenue during a single season — are just behind Bayern Munich after the German giants came unstuck in Rotterdam.

Bayern’s hopes of automatic qualification took a hit with a 3-0 defeat by Feyenoord.

Santiago Gimenez scored two goals, including a penalty, in the first half before Ayase Ueda’s late goal completed a superb display from Feyenoord, who could also still finish in the top eight.

“I have to be honest, Feyenoord deserved their win. They fought hard and ran,” Bayern coach Kompany told a press conference. “We had many chances. I felt we could have scored one, two or more goals. Feyenoord used their moments well.”

Despite the win, Feyenoord coach Brian Priske’s job is still in danger due to their poor domestic form.

Asked about the possibility of being sacked, Danish-born Priske wanted to turn the attention back to Wednesdays win in De Kuip.

“I understand the questions, but I hope for some respect for the club,” said Priske, who was hired to replace Arne Slot after he left for Liverpool at the end of last season.

“This is an incredible result. And that applies to all of Dutch football. We have two Dutch teams in the next round after PSV’s great victory.

“It is now a bit more respectful to talk about football and not about my position. About all those reports, I don’t really give a damn,” he told reporters.

“The correct answer from me is: I am the coach of Feyenoord and I have not heard anything else.”

Elsewhere, Inter Milan look guaranteed to reach the last 16 after their 1-0 win away to Sparta Prague courtesy of Lautaro Martinez’s volley.

The Italian champions are fourth on 16 points, level with Arsenal, and one above city rivals AC Milan.

Rafael Leao’s first-half strike was enough to earn Milan a 1-0 win that also eliminated Girona.

In Glasgow, Celtic advanced to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in 12 years after inflicting a seventh successive defeat on Young Boys, with Loris Benito’s 86th-minute own goal handing the Hoops a 1-0.

“It’s a little bit of history created, we haven’t been in the knockout stages for a long time. For the supporters it’s an amazing night,” said Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.

French club Brest saw their bid for an automatic spot in the last 16 dented by a 2-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in Germany.

Sporting Lisbon suffered a third straight defeat as previously pointless RB Leipzig won 2-1 with goals from Benjamin Sesko and Yussuf Poulsen.

In the Europa League, Spanish side Athletic Club suffered their first loss in the competition as they lost 4-1 against 18th-placed Besiktas of Turkey.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2025

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