Man City 2-0 PSG Player Ratings: Mahrez shines as Neymar & Co. struggle without Mbappe
Manchester City reached the final of the Champions League on Tuesday night after they overcame Paris Saint-Germain in a reasonably comfortable 2-0 victory.
Following their 2-1 win in Paris, Pep Guardiola’s side knew they could sit back and counter attack their visitors with precision and patience, so that’s exactly what they did.
So which players stood out most in Man City's important win and PSG’s disappointing defeat?
Man City v PSG: Player Ratings and Match Statistics
❌Mauro Icardi: 5.3
With Kylian Mbappe ruled out of the match through a lack of fitness, the weight of expectation fell on Mauro Icardi’s shoulders to provide a goal threat and he failed emphatically.
While Neymar, Marco Verratti & Co. did their best to find space and create something, Icardi stood in isolation in the City box with seemingly no ability to link up with his team mates or create any space for himself to score.
Prior to being pulled off after 62 minutes, Icardi managed just 16 touches of the ball. Far less than any other player on the pitch, including both goalkeepers.
❌ Angel Di Maria: 5.7
While much of the pressure was on Neymar or Icardi to make up for Mbappe’s absence, Di Maria certainly did very little to help his side with a truly abject performance.
In contrast to a determined and sharp Neymar, Di Maria looked sloppy in possession and struggled to create anything for his teammates or himself over the course of the game.
In the opening 70 minutes of the match the Argentina winger managed just 37 passes, three shots towards goal but failed to get a single on target. Then, to top off a poor match, Di Maria then lashed out at Fernandinho and got himself sent off.
⭐️ Riyad Mahrez: 9.8
For the second Champions League game in a row, Guardiola decided to play a midfielder in Kevin de Bruyne as his main striker. And that meant City needed the clinical finishing of a striker from one of their wide players.
Fortunately for the Premier League giants, that’s exactly what they got in Riyad Mahrez on not one but two occasions over the course of the game.
His first goal came 11 minutes into the match when a counter attack from City led to a shot from De Bruyne, that fortuitously landed in the path of Mahrez to fire into the opposite corner from a tight angle.
His second goal was a little easier to convert when another counter attack just after the hour mark saw a smart one-two between Phil Foden and De Bruyne allowed the Englishman to square the ball to Mahrez at the back post and tap it into an empty net.
Man City v PSG: Player Ratings and Match Statistics