Enzo Maresca has revealed that Luis Enrique admitted his Paris Saint-Germain side were lucky to beat Manchester City on Wednesday night. The back-to-back Champions League winners left the Etihad with a 4-2 win after a pulsating contest in Manchester.
PSG's first-half dominance and City's fightback
PSG were stunning in the first half, taking a 3-0 lead 32 minutes into the game thanks to Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha. Manchester City fought back brilliantly and were vastly improved after the break, creating plenty of chances and scoring twice through Erling Haaland.
The defending champions were not finished, though, with Maghnes Akliouche scoring a fourth and PSG even surviving Ferran Torres missing a penalty to secure a great win. It was a thrilling match, with both teams creating a lot of goal-scoring opportunities as City produced 27 shots and PSG managed 15.
Maresca's assessment and triple substitution
Maresca may have watched his team lose, but was pleased with how they played and responded to the early set-backs, partly thanks to his triple substitution at half-time as Matheus Nunes, Iliman Ndiaye and Ayyoub Bouaddi were introduced.
'I think we started quite good until the first goal and then we concede the second after one minute and that probably created a bit of bad feeling, so first half we struggled,' Maresca told TNT. 'Second half we were much, much, much better and probably we deserve even something more.
'It was a bit strange, to be honest, because until the first goal we started quite good. We were in the game, create something, concede nothing, then we concede the first one and after two minutes the second one. It's already difficult and when you concede two goals in two minutes it's ever worse. But in the second half I think we create enough to deserve something more.
'We adjust a little bit the way we were pressing and something also on the ball. It was a bit strange, not because of the way we were pressing or attacking, but we conceded two goals in two minutes and I think we lost a little bit the balance, but then the second half was a completely different game.'
Luis Enrique's admission and Lescott's view
Maresca feels his team deserved at least a draw out of the game and says his opposite number agreed with him. 'I think even with the 0-3 first half, with the amount of chances we create second half we deserve something more,' said the Italian. 'And Luis was quite honest at the end of the game. He said: "We have been quite lucky today."'
Former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott was not quite on board with that view and, despite being impressed with the second half response, still felt PSG were deserving winners. 'Very proud of the second half, but it was an exhibition in the first half,' Lescott said on TNT. 'I thought that they had a very steep up hill battle in the second half. Yes Enzo made the right changes, and they did affect the game but it wasn't enough. Clearly the best team won tonight.'
