EX AND THE CITY: Guardiola watches on as Man City beaten by PSG after frightening first-half onslaught in first home game since charges bombshell

PSG taught Manchester City a footballing lesson in the first half as the champions of Europe secured a statement win in front of Pep Guardiola on his return to the Etihad.

Enzo Maresca's side were sensational on Sunday as they responded emphatically to their recent guilty verdict, but their eight-match winning run came to a thumping end against the French side, who were three goals to the good after half an hour.

Desire Doue got the ball rolling for the Ligue 1 champions before Ousmane Dembele, again, scored against an English side. Vitinha's strike took even more life out of an already shellshocked stadium, who can't have been used to seeing their team so outclassed.

City did come out with renewed desire and, on another night, could've been talking about a sensational comeback such was the amount of chances they missed. Erling Haaland scored his first of the two on night to give the home side hope, but they were sandwiched in between PSG temporarily restoring their three-goal cushion thanks to Maghnes Akliouche's strike from distance, which went in in bizarre circumstances.

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Doue silenced the Etihad with the opening goal, which finished off a free-flowing move that started with the PSG right-back and ended with their left winger, who gave Gianluigi Donnarumma the eyes to fire from range into his near post.

City's task was made all the more difficult when Dembele, still the holder of the Ballon d'Or, headed home a cross from Doue. The PSG talisman able to waltz in almost unmarked at the back post.

The hosts had little by way of clear chances before Vitinha fired home the Parisian's third of the half to all but seal the contest before the teams had swapped end. It was the first time the Premier League side had shipped three goals in the first-half of a Champions League game at the Etihad.

The City players gathered their brains trust into a huddle in the seconds after PSG's third in an effort to find solutions, but still went into the break trailing by three.

Antoine Semenyo missed an early chance to cut the deficit, blazing over with the goal at his mercy, and minutes later Enzo Fernandez could only kick a water bottle in frustration after missing a header from less than six yards.

Haaland would, as you'd expect, be the man to find the net as the Norwegian scored a stunning header to ignite the Etihad and write more personal history. His strike was as good as it would get for the Manchester side, who saw Akliouche's strike trickle in after Donnarumma's strong hand wasn't enough to negate the spin on the ball, before Haaland scored his second of the night after seeing an effort hit the bar.

The City forward was denied his hat-trick by a huge Matvey Safonov save in the final ten minutes, putting pay to a grandstand finish, before Ferran Torres saw a late penalty saved.

This is a City team sat top of the Premier League. They're the only team in the top flight to boast a perfect record and they've made relatively light work of every challenge they've faced so far.

Old Trafford with 10 men, completed it. Win at a hostile Anfield in the aftermath of your guilty verdict, no problem. But taking on PSG was a new prospect all together, and served to highlight that City are the team in a rebuild we all thought they were.

Before a ball was kicked plenty felt Arsenal were poised to win the title once again. City in the aftermath of Guardiola's exit were seen as having too much to do. That narrative has somewhat changed given how impressive they've looked in the opening weeks.

But Wednesday night served as a reminder that City are not the elite outfit they were for so many years under Guardiola. Back in 2021 they made relatively light work of PSG in the semi-finals of the Champions League, but five years on and the two teams are at totally different points in their cycle.

The Parisians are the standard in Europe and made it known. There's nothing like a commanding performance away at one of your perceived rivals to hammer home just how good you are.

He's only been in Manchester for a little over four years and he's already found the net more times than Sergio Aguero did in a decade. Haaland's header was his 37th Champions League strike for City, which made him the club's all-time leading scorer in the competition.

Ever since bursting onto the scene with Red Bull Salzburg he's thrived on the European stage and now boasts a record of 61 goals in 60 games. No player in the modern age has gone close to registering a goal per game. For context Cristiano Ronaldo had a ratio of 0.77, Lionel Messi slightly better at 0.79.

He certainly has time on his side and Haaland currently sits seventh on the all-time list - Kylian Mbappe is the only active player ahead of him. We're at the stage where the Norwegian, still only 26, can justifiably have his sights set on Ronaldo's haul of 140 goals.

On Sunday City looked like a team ready to revel in the siege mentality they were creating. Everyone seemingly hates them and the way they went about their business for so long, but they didn't care, which was underlined by their celebrations at Liverpool.

They've appealed their guilty verdict with, self claimed, irrefutable evidence and having their former boss sat in the stands alongside his right hand man and the club's chairman was a further show of defiance. Guardiola previously said in press conferences how much trust he had in the hierarchy.

Maresca has continued with that narrative. Ruben Dias has come out and said similarly. If City are guilty, they're doing a sensational job of not acting like it.