Manchester City have one foot in the Champions League final after beating PSG 2-1 in Paris in the semi-final first leg. Mauricio Pochettino's side played some thrilling football in the first half, but completely capitulated in the second. Marquinhos had put the French champions in front, but City came out fighting after the interval with goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez. Silencing Kylian Mbappe was key to Pep Guardiola's plans. For the first time in his career, the World Cup winner failed to register a single shot in a Champions League match he'd started. City's defenders deserve huge credit for that feat, but ultimately it was Mahrez who proved the difference. The Algerian's free-kick was very impressive at first glance, but it was scrutinised in a little more detail in the BT Sport studio after the final whistle. Joe Hart defended Keylor Navas, insisting it was almost "impossible to save" after the goalkeeper's wall had let him down. "You literally just need to stand there and block the ball, simple as, in a wall with three of your boys next to you with a guy underneath and block the ball," the Tottenham stopper said. "Your natural instinct when someone kicks the ball at you in the street is to move out the way. That's just human nature but you have to fight that when you're out on the pitch... They've not done their job there and they've lost the game because of it."
PSG had used the classic trick of employing Marco Verratti as the man underneath the wall - but that didn't help when the other three defenders - Presnel Kimpembe, Marquinhos and Mitchel Bakker - all leapt out of the way as soon as the ball had been struck.
Verratti looked in genuine disbelief:
The midfielder was understandably exasperated with such basic defending.
Minutes later, Idrissa Gueye's red card topped off an awful night for PSG following a brutal challenge on Ilkay Gundogan.
Hart was quite right to blast PSG's lack of courage and it leaves them with a mountain to climb when they travel to the Etihad for the second leg.