Manchester City
Trending
Joe Hart – 8
His penalty save from Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the talking point throughout the game and coud well be crucial to City’s chances of entering the semi-finals. He was helpless to stop Ibrahimovic’s lucky goal and could only parry Cavani’s header into the path of Adrien Rabiot for the second goal.
Bacary Sagna – 6
Defensively he was quite vulnerable, getting beaten in the air by Ibrahimovic and Cavani while dealing with crosses. He didn’t offer much going forward too, though his only cross resulted in City’s equaliser following some uninspired defending by the French champions.
Nicklas Otamendi – 7
The ex-Valencia man used his height and strength to keep Ibrahimovic at bay by making those aerial clearances. He could not be faulted for any of City’s goals.
Eliaquim Mangala – 6.5
He continues to struggle with his positioning this season. He allowed Matuidi to run clear at goal, only to be allegedly hauled down. He could be deemed lucky that the referee decided that it wasn’t a clear penalty, for had he did, it would have been an early bath for the Frenchman.
He redeemed himself by making some timely clearances, but his lack of awareness of on-rushing opposition team players will worry Pellegrini.
Gael Clichy – 6.5
Keeping Angel di Maria quiet was always going to be a difficult task and Clichy felt the heat against the Argentine. He did make a few crucial interceptions to prevent PSG from getting too many clear opportunities at goal. Going up, he delivered a couple of crosses into the box, none of which tried the PSG defenders. He was also not helped by the fact that he had to partner an out of position David Silva on the left flank.
Fernandinho – 8
In the absence of Yaya Toure, it was Fernandinho who played the box-to-box midfielder’s role, initiating City’s attacks with some good feeding play to the wingers. He surged forward before making the crucial pass to de Bruyne for City’s opening goal. He was himself on the scoresheet in the second half, albeit it was off a deflection. A memorable night for the Brazilian.
Fernando – 6
He will be kicking himself at having lost his composure in the 41st minute trying to side-foot the ball out of the penalty box – only for the ball to ricochet off Ibrahimovic and roll into an empty net. He did make a couple of tackles to impede PSG’s surge forward, but it was that error that might end up costing City the tie.
Jesus Navas – 7
He was a daunting figure down the right wing in the first half, linking up with Kevin de Bruyne and making life difficult for Maxwell. His delightful cross midway through the first half warranted a goal, but David Silva failed to get his bio-mechanics right to direct his header towards goal. He tapered off as the second half progressed.
Kevin de Bruyne – 8
It was an immense performance from the Belgian attacking midfielder. He was out of the blocks right from the first minute, making those cutting through-passes he is so adroit at and giving City’s defence a tough time with his set-pieces. His movement continuously put PSG’s defenders to test – showing everyone why his services were missed so much by Man City over the past 2 months.
David Silva – 6.5
The Spanish playmaker looked slightly out of position on the left wing when he would rather find himself in a central role behind the striker. Having been constrained of space which ne normally gets in the middle, he was not really able to get going with his ball movement around the PSG penalty area. He lost out on the ball on many occasions despite creating a couple of good chances.
Sergio Aguero – 7
No goals for Aguero, but nonetheless it was a lively performance from him. He did everything but score – skipping past opponents, getting into good goal-scoring positions and drawing fouls. If he can take this form back home next week and add some goals to his name, there’s no reason why City can’t see themselves into the last four for the first time in their history.
Substitutes:
Fabian Delph – 6.5
He replaced a wonderful Kevin de Bruyne after 77 minutes. He did make a good account for himself, completing passes and successfully dribbling past an opponent with his only attempt.
Wilfried Bony and Aleksandar Kolarov – N/A
Both of them had no time to make a mark.
