City were playing at home at the Etihad Stadium for the first time since being found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over almost a decade that have left them facing the prospect of severe sanctions. Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 4-2 victory away to embattled Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, while Bradley Barcola hit his first Liverpool goals with a hat-trick in a 6-3 win over LASK in Austria. Elsewhere on a prolific night of European action, Real Madrid came from 3-1 down to beat Roma 4-3 and Aston Villa demolished Fenerbahce 6-0 at Villa Park.
They face Barcelona next week. Nicolas Jackson scored twice before half-time, and Ross Barkley bagged a second-half brace including a penalty. Tammy Abraham completed the scoring, leaving the Turkish side stunned.
Back-to-back title-holders PSG have won both Champions League games this season, scoring 10 goals in the process. Jeremie Frimpong and Lewis Koumas also netted for Andoni Iraola’s side, who were 4-0 ahead at one point before LASK scored three times in the space of 15 second-half minutes through Robert Ljubicic and Florian Flecker’s brace.
That verdict appeared to be hanging over the City team as PSG raced into a three-goal lead just past the half-hour mark, with Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha all netting for the French side. With former boss Pep Guardiola watching on, City produced a second-half fightback as Erling Haaland scored twice to take him to four Champions League goals already this season.
“In the first half we were far superior to a great City side,” Paris coach Luis Enrique told broadcaster Canal Plus. “You can think these games are over but it is never the case at this level, and we could have ended up losing.”
