Manchester City's 4-2 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Uefa Champions League told only part of the story of Enzo Maresca's first loss at the helm, with his men staggering through the first half before roaring back after the break.
City were staring at a rout when a rampant PSG raced to a 3-0 lead with a first-half masterclass. Then they woke up.
Maresca's side tore into the visitors after half-time, pouring forward with an intensity and urgency that had been entirely absent in the opening 45 minutes.
Erling Haaland spearheaded the fightback, scoring twice to become the fastest player to reach 60 Champions League goals, hitting the mark in just 60 games, 20 quicker than Lionel Messi.
City kept coming. They finished with nearly twice as many shots as PSG and around three times as many touches in the opposition box, while recording a higher expected goals figure at both half-time and full-time. PSG, though, were more ruthless.
“I think we start quite good until the first goal [from Desire Doue in the 13th minute] and then we concede the second one (Ousmane Dembele) after one minute. That created some bad feelings,” Maresca told TNT Sports.
“Second half, we were much better and probably deserved something more.”
City had arrived on the back of a 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday and Maresca felt they generated enough chances to salvage something even after digging themselves a three-goal hole.
“Even with 3-0 in the first half, with the amount of chances we created in the second half, we deserved more,” he said. “Luis (Enrique, PSG's manager) said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today.
“You have to be clinical but not lose the balance,” Maresca said.
The defeat unfolded against a backdrop of turmoil stretching far beyond City as an independent commission found City guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-year period.
City have denied any wrongdoing and have appealed.
On the pitch, they remain three points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League table ahead of Saturday's home game against Ipswich.
Asked if he had a message for supporters, Maresca said: “We are sorry for the first half for sure. Saturday is a Premier League game and we need to continue our run.”
Former City manager Pep Guardiola watched from the stands in Manchester alongside chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and senior executives Ferran Soriano and Hugo Viana.
Madrid's comeback
On a breathless night of Champions League football featuring 46 goals, Real Madrid staged a stunning comeback to beat AS Roma 4-3.
At the Stadio Olimpico, Real Madrid scored three times in the closing stages to overturn a two-goal deficit.
Marten de Roon gave Roma the lead in the 20th minute before Kylian Mbappe equalised five minutes later, but Donyell Malen struck twice in the 51st and 57th minutes to put the hosts in control.
The visitors mounted a remarkable comeback as Carlos Espi pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute before Endrick levelled three minutes later.
Former Roma defender Antonio Rudiger then completed the turnaround in the 90th minute, holding off his marker to steer home Arda Guler's corner from close range and snatch victory for the Spanish giants.
Meanwhile, Bradley Barcola scored a hat-trick in Liverpool's 6-3 thrashing of LASK.
Barcola scored his first goals for the club during the rout of Champions League newcomers LASK in Austria.
Ronald Araujo, Jeremie Frimpong and Lewis Koumas also scored for Andoni Iraola's side, who bounced back from Sunday's 3-0 Premier League defeat by City. Florian Flecker struck twice for the hosts.
