- City need to win their final Champions League game or face elimination
- They had led PSG 2-0, but collapsed in the second half and eventually lost 4-2.
- LISTEN NOW: It's all starting! Ruben Amorim seems desperate… it is the last resort to publicly denounce your players
Manchester City face a do-or-die tie against Club Brugge next week to get into the Champions League playoffs after capitulating in Paris on Wednesday night.
Pep Guardiola's side squandered a two-goal lead in a 4-2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, leaving the 2023 European champions facing humiliating elimination.
Sitting 25th in the 36-team table, anything short of a win over the Belgians would see City crash out before the last 16 after another night of pain and anguish on the continent.
Guardiola admitted that his team was not physically capable of matching Luis Enrique's PSG after being overwhelmed in a hostile environment. And the coach stated that they cannot go head to head with the best teams.
“We suffered and they were better, more intense to win the duels,” said Guardiola. 'On the big stages, the big teams, we fight. We have to accept it.
'We have one last chance against Bruges. If we don't do it, it's because we don't deserve it.”
Pep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City “has to accept” that it “fights” against the best teams
City squandered a two-goal lead against PSG in the Champions League and left their play-off hopes in doubt with a game remaining.
Guardiola said his team has to accept that they will not “deserve” to go through if they are eliminated next week.
Erling Haaland was on the scoresheet, but City's problems are mainly at the other end of the pitch.
City have failed to win nine games in which they have been leading so far this season, the most of any Premier League team. Leads have been blown in three of the last four European games.
Guardiola believes the usual defensive problems are a result of a lack of control in midfield, with City nervous once PSG scored their first goal. They remain interested in bringing in a new midfielder before the transfer window closes.
“We have to defend with the ball or it will be impossible to play well,” he added. 'Keep the ball, the extra pass. The connection with Bernardo (Silva) and (Mateo) Kovacic was not possible or was not good and we could not complete the procedure. “I tried different things but we couldn't keep the ball.”
Guardiola revealed that Ruben Dias asked to be taken off at half-time with another injury complaint and City face an anxious wait to see the extent of that before they face Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The City manager has blamed home draws with Feyenoord and Inter for their precarious position in the competition and this was echoed by the scorer of the first goal, Jack Grealish.
“Normally we are very good at these moments,” Grealish said. 'It's happened too many times this season; when we have gone one goal, two goals up, even three against Feyenoord, and we have not been able to control the game and see it finish.
“It's strange because in any other season we have been very good at the moment, managing the game. I don't know if it's a question of confidence because we know that for most of this season, especially before Christmas, we were not really at the levels that we know we can achieve.
'But it is up to us to try to change that in the future. We have so many players on the field when we are two goals up who are very good with the ball and retaining it. But lately we haven't and that's up to us.”