Maresca insists City are 'close' to PSG level despite 3-0 first-half collapse at Etihad

Enzo Maresca has insisted Manchester City are not far behind Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, despite his side conceding three goals in the first half of a defeat at the Etihad Stadium. City rallied strongly after the break but ultimately fell short, losing by two goals in a match Maresca described as a marker of where his team currently stand.

PSG manager Luis Enrique sought out Maresca at the final whistle to tell him his side had been fortunate to leave with the result, a sentiment he later repeated publicly. “The team that lost today perhaps were a bit unlucky,” Enrique said. “I spoke to Raphael Pol at half-time and said all the luck that we didn’t have in the first games of the French league, we got all of it today.”

Maresca was candid about the reasons for City’s difficult opening 45 minutes, pointing to the psychological impact of conceding early. “The reason why we struggle first half is we concede two goals and you know you are already difficult against them and then think ‘Oh my god we are 2-0 down so it is even more difficult,’” he said. “Luis at the end told me they had been quite lucky during the 95 minutes but we lost, we can move on.”

Despite the defeat, Maresca expressed genuine admiration for PSG’s style and confidence that City are capable of competing at that level. “I really like to play against PSG, to be honest, because they are brave. I know the way they want to press — they don’t care, they go man to man on the pitch, they are quite dynamic,” he said. “I like to play against them and I think we are there, to be honest. My feeling is we are there, we are close.”

Enrique was equally effusive about the quality of the contest, crediting City’s second-half pressure while maintaining that PSG deserved their first-half lead. “When you see a game at this level, two teams who are really trying to play football, pressing as high as possible — that was the game we thought it was going to be,” the PSG coach said. “We were able to overcome their pressing in the first half and deserved to be 3-0 up at half-time, but then I don’t like it when we get two halves of football that are so different.”

The result leaves City with questions to answer about their first-half defensive fragility, even as Maresca points to the second-half response as evidence that the gap between the two clubs is narrowing.