The Etihad Stadium was a febrile place before kick-off, with smoke, fury and a crackle in the air, as Manchester City played their first home game since the verdict dropped and English football entered a state of ongoing whiplash. This was by far the most interesting City have ever been, a vivid spectacle whipped together out of meringue and burnt sugar, watched by a crowd roused from sullen defiance to angry defiance and occasionally even jubilant defiance.
Six Goals and a Collapse
This was a brilliant game pegged out around six goals, a collapse, a comeback, posts and bars struck, saved penalties, and a performance of state-of-the-art omni-football from this brilliantly high-grade PSG team. Pep Guardiola was even present in the stands, looking oddly haunted beneath a flat cap, quite a lot like Vincenzo Pentangeli in The Godfather Part II, the mute Sicilian brother who has a congressional hearing dismissed just by glowering wordlessly.
City's players gave everything against superior opponents. There has been some talk in recent days about whether City's games should be broadcast or even played at all, but in the age of charge-rage and mega-defiance City are suddenly total box office. It has been a cold project at times, frictionless football, the hand of a sovereign state at your back, victory without content, but not any more.
Twin Entities and Defiance
City had perfect opponents here in PSG, who are a kind of twin entity in all this, brothers by another mother, oil state glove puppets twice punished for cheating the financial rules. Abu Dhabi versus Qatar in Manchester, lawfare and tribal populism, all played out against the background of an embattled British prime minister.
Mainly there was a chance here to boo everything and everyone. The PSG team was booed, the singing of the PSG fans was booed, and the Champions League anthem was obliterated. A City Till I Die Tifo was hoisted, and the early songs were "City's going down with a billion in the bank" and the classic "Gary Neville is a wanker, is a wanker". The banner that read "Sheikh Mansour, Manchester thanks you for 10 great years" is still there.
PSG's Brilliance
PSG were brilliant here early on, Luis Enrique up on his feet in rumpled black tracksuit bottoms and hoodie, handsomely ravaged, like a Jedi out for a jog. By the time Vitinha made it 3-0 on 32 minutes the score could have been anything. The midfield was suffocating in and out of possession, and Désiré Doué was sublime on the left, all fast-twitch spring and balance, like a squirrel on a branch.
For long periods City's fans fell silent, but here at least they had a brilliant game, players that gave everything, and spectacle if not victory.
