Manchester City are in a strong position to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time after Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho’s scrappy goal earned a valuable 2-2 draw away to Paris Saint-Germain in an error-strewn quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.
It was a disappointing result for PSG, who have fallen at the quarter-final stage in the past three seasons, as coach Laurent Blanc was left to rue his side’s sloppy defending and wasteful finishing.
Poor concentration cost both sides, but Fernandinho gave City the edge for next week’s second leg when he bundled the ball home after a mix-up between rightback Serge Aurier and centerback Thiago Silva in the 72nd minute.
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“What really cost us is that we made mistakes we don’t normally make,” Blanc said. “We should have taken the lead, but instead they scored against the run of play.”
Blanc expects the return leg to be equally open.
“I can’t see City sitting back and protecting the result,” said Blanc, who will be without centerback David Luiz and midfielder Blaise Matuidi through suspension.
City struck against the run of play in the 38th minute through Belgium winger Kevin de Bruyne, but a huge mistake from midfielder Fernando gifted PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic an equalizer three minutes later.
PSG took the lead when midfielder Adrien Rabiot tapped home in the 59th minute after goalkeeper Joe Hart saved Edison Cavani’s glancing header from a corner taken by Angel di Maria.
“It’s absolutely open and we need to have a very good game in Manchester [because] PSG play at home and away in the same way,” Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini said.
“We made important mistakes that we can’t do if we want to win the Champions League,” Pellegrini said.
Although Fernando will want to quickly forget his gaffe, Hart was partly to blame by rolling a goal-kick to him on the edge the penalty area when he could have played it to one of his fullbacks or kicked it long. It was all far too casual and Fernando’s first touch was too heavy and, as he tried to retrieve the ball, he gifted Ibrahimovic his 39th goal of the season.
“It was a terrible first goal to concede,” Hart said.
City were playing in their first Champions League quarter-final, while PSG reached the semi-finals in 1994-1995.
“We are making history for this club,” Hart said. “Two away goals is great. Hopefully we make them count.”
The match could perhaps have been billed as a “Gulf Derby” between immensely rich clubs. City are bankrolled by Abu Dhabi investor Sheikh Mansour, a member of the ruling family, while PSG are fueled by funding from Qatar Sports Investments.
Injury-hit City were missing key defender Vincent Kompany, goal-scoring midfielder Yaya Toure and winger Raheem Sterling, while PSG were without central midfielder Marco Verratti.
With both sides edgy, there were plenty of scrappy fouls, with Luiz shown a yellow card inside the first minute for bringing down striker Sergio Aguero.
PSG had a penalty claim waved away as centerback Eliaquim Mangala came across to steal the ball off Matuidi, but referee Milorad Mazic pointed to the penalty spot in the 12th minute when rightback Bacary Sagna was adjudged to have tripped Luiz.
Up stepped the imperiously confident Ibrahimovic, who put four goals past Hart when Sweden beat England 4-2 four years ago, but the England goalkeeper earned a modicum of payback, refusing to commit early and anticipating Ibrahimovic’s spot-kick as he dived to his right.
After saving Ibrahimovic’s tame header moments later, Hart watched with relief as Ibrahimovic missed a great chance. Played clean through by Thiago Motta’s superb pass, Ibrahimovic had time to pick his spot from just inside the penalty area, but his ambitious curling shot flew over.
“[Ibrahimovic] missed a penalty and a great chance, so perhaps he can think that it wasn’t his night — or ours,” Blanc said.
City punished the miss when PSG midfielder Rabiot failed to control Matuidi’s pass and midfielder Fernandinho took the ball off him, surged forward and played a pass beyond Luiz into the path of the fleet-footed De Bruyne, who hit a powerful shot under the body of goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
PSG deservedly took the lead after dominating the opening 15 minutes of the second half, but might rue not scoring another, with Ibrahimovic heading against the crossbar and Cavani blazing over from the rebound.
City took full advantage.
Sagna crossed from the right, Aurier poked the ball haplessly toward Silva, who was off-balance and could not clear his lines, allowing the lurking Fernandinho to scuff a priceless goal into the bottom-left corner.
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