Mahrez, De Bruyne Score as Man City Come From Behind to Outshine PSG in Their Champions League 1st Leg Meeting

- City came from behind to claim a 2-1 win over PSG in a thriller

- The hosts finished the game with 10 men after Gana Gueye was sent off for a dangerous tackle

- This is the first semi-final Manchester City have been involved in the Champions League

- City have now won 18 straight away games in all competitions, a record for an English club

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Manchester City came from one goal down to beat Paris Saint Germain 2-1 in a hotly-contested Champions League semifinal first-leg clash at the Parc des Princes.

It was the classic tale of two halves as Pep Guardiola’s men completely dominated the second half after making a slow start to the game.

The Citizens turned the game on its head in seven second-half minutes as goals from Kevin de Bruyne and a Riyad Mahrez put the Citizens in an extremely comfortable position in the tie.

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The hosts ended the game with 10 men as Idrisse Gana Gueye was given his marching orders with 13 minutes to go for a dangerous tackle on Ilkay Gundogan.

PSG, who were thoroughly dominant in the first half, took the lead courtesy of captain Marquinhos, who glanced in a header from Di Maria’s corner.

City were guilty of making a poor start to the game as they rarely threatened going forward in the opening exchanges, with Brazilian sensation Neymar forcing a brilliant save from Ederson early on.

They were eventually made to pay when Marquinhos ghosted into the area unmarked to meet Di Maria’s header for the opening goal of the game.

For City, most of the first half was characterized with little action in the box, with De Bruyne constantly finding himself crossing to the lone Phil Foden who once again played as a false nine on the night.

Things were however completely different in the second half as Manchester City came out guns blazing and they exerted the classic Pep Guardiola football which worked perfectly.

A combination of frustrating possession and creativity going forward seemed to surprise PSG and the Parisians eventually caved in what was a brilliant 7-minute spell for the visitors.

De Bruyne restored parity in the 64th minute with a crucial away goal as he curled in a cross which missed both John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan to find the back of the net despite keeper Keylor Navas standing his ground.

If the balance of play was anything to go by, the goal, despite being somewhat of a fluke, was the least City deserved after a dominant second half.

The game was turned on its head seven minutes later when Algerian Riyad Mahrez whipped a freekick which inexplicably went through the PSG wall and into the net.

From then on, PSG completely lost their heads courtesy of being starved of the ball for most of the second half and it started to show in their tackles on City players.

Their frustration in the second half was summed up when Gueye was given a straight red for lunging in with a dangerous tackle on Gundogan, giving the referee no choice.

Down to 10-men, Mauricio Pochettino resorted to game-management as he took off Di Maria for Danilo Pereira.

In the end, City were too good for their opponents, particularly in the second half, and will take two away goals to the return leg at the Etihad.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Real Madrid had to fight back to salvage a draw for themselves against Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final meeting at Angelo Di Stefano Stadium.

The Blues who have enjoyed stability under Thomas Tuchel got the game started on a bright note with Christian Pulisic scoring the opener in the 14th minute.

However, his early goal was cancelled by Karim Benzema's lovely effort one minute before the half-hour mark on Tuesday night, April 27, encounter.