Paris Saint-Germain finally showed it can shine in the Champions League without star Kylian Mbappé, rallying from 2-0 down in the second half to beat Manchester City 4-2 for a crucial victory Wednesday.
The win moved PSG out of the elimination zone in the competition’s new-look format and dumped City in it with one game to play.
PSG‘s re-designed attack finally clicked with four different scorers rather than relying too heavily on one to make the difference.
PSG winger Bradley Barcola scored one goal and set up another for France teammate Ousmane Dembélé, and midfielder Joao Neves headed in the third before striker Gonçalo Ramos rammed in the fourth in stoppage time.
The French team has struggled for goals in the competition since Mbappé‘s offseason departure for Real Madrid, netting just six in six games before City‘s visit and being blanked in defeats to Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
PSG coach Luis Enrique said before facing City that the solution up front would come from more teamwork rather than hoping another player can emulate Mbappé, who scored 44 goals last season and helped PSG reach the Champions League semifinals.
Mbappé‘s move to Madrid forced Enrique to improvise with his lineups all season.
This time, 19-year-old winger Désiré Doué played as a makeshift striker even though center forward Ramos was available for this game where both wealthy state-backed teams – the United Arab Emirates (City) and Qatar (PSG) – were at risk of failing to advance to the knockout stage.
City led 2-0 after 53 minutes but PSG were level by the hour mark after some inspirational play down the left from Barcola. He skipped past Savinho before picking out Dembélé near the penalty spot, and then the 22-year-old Barcola equalized by squeezing a shot in off the left post after Doué‘s effort came back off the crossbar.
The diminutive Neves stooped to head in a free kick from the right in the 78th minute.
Dembélé also hit the crossbar with a rasping shot with 20 minutes left and PSG had two other goals ruled out for offside.
PSG‘s players sprinted to celebrate with their fans at the final whistle and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi clenched his fist.
Maybe losing Mbappé won’t be so bad after all.
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