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Topics: Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League, Pep Guardiola
Jack Kenmare
Topics: Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League, Pep Guardiola
Manchester City are on the mathematical brink of being knocked out of this season's Champions League after they suffered a 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
As we all know, the brand new 36-team Champions League sees each side play eight different teams – four at home and four away – in a league phase.
Teams who finish in the top eight will qualify automatically for the last 16, while those who place ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for the chance to join them.
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On the other hand, those who finish 25th or lower will be eliminated, and will not be entered into the Europa League. Step forward, Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's side currently sit 25th in the league phase table coming into their final game of the campaign against Club Brugge next Wednesday – a game that will be played at the Etihad.
The Citizens sit two points behind 24th place Stuttgart, who face Paris Saint-Germain at the MHPArena next week. In short, City must beat Club Brugge next week and hope teams directly above don't win.
It was another disastrous night for City, who took a 2-0 lead against PSG through Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.
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But the home side made a superb comeback as second-half goals from Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos sealed a much-deserved three points.
Ahead of Wednesday's clash at the Parc des Princes, Pep Guardiola called the game a must-win affair.
“Both teams still have two matches to play,” he said. “This is a very important match for us and PSG . We don't know how many points we'll need. We'll see if it works out mathematically.
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"We didn't want to be in such a situation at this stage of the season. But that's sports. You have to accept it and keep moving forward.
“When you play against Inter, Juve, PSG… these are very strong teams. Some teams have won nearly all their matches. We're doing what we can in these group stages."
Guardiola added: "A lot can happen. It's a very, very important match. After that, we'll have a home game. Will we need six points or three points to advance? We don’t know.”