Manchester City vs PSG: Erling Haaland scored again at Anfield
- Kick-off
- Venue
- Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Our call: Manchester City win 2–1
Erling Haaland's finishing, behind a City defence that has almost stopped conceding.
We'll mark this call after full time.
Logged 12 Oct, 09:06 CEST, never edited.
In 30 seconds
- Before the break City won 9 of their last 10 games and kept four clean sheets in their last five; then they won 3–0 at Anfield on Sun 11 Oct.
- PSG lead the league-phase table and have Ferran Torres scoring freely; Dembélé and Nuno Mendes return from a rest.
- Haaland will score against this PSG back line, and that is the difference.
The story
Enzo Maresca's first autumn at Manchester City could hardly have gone better on the pitch. City have won all six of their Premier League games, and the sixth came at Anfield on Sun 11 Oct. It was 0–0 until Ryan Gravenberch was sent off in the second half; Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki then scored in 13 minutes. Haaland had limped out of Norway's defeat to Portugal during the break, and Maresca declared him fit before the game. Off the pitch, the club is appealing against the guilty verdict on the Premier League charges, and Maresca says the owners are convinced it will win.
Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain are top of the 36-team table after one game, thanks to a 6–1 win over Slovan Bratislava. City are eighth after winning 2–0 at Porto. Only the top eight go straight to the last 16, and the winner here sets the early pace. PSG beat Le Mans 3–1 on Sat 10 Oct for a third league win in a row, with Marquinhos and Willian Pacho on the bench and Ousmane Dembélé and Nuno Mendes at home: the club gave both extra rest after international duty, with no injury involved. "Away from home and against an English team, it will of course be difficult, but we're ready," Luis Enrique said.
PSG's goals now come from an unexpected place. Ferran Torres, the Ligue 1 player of the month for September, has seven in PSG's nine games before the break; he came on in the 59th minute at Marseille on 20 Sep and headed the opening goal seven minutes later. This decides it: Haaland against PSG's centre-backs, whoever Luis Enrique chooses. Marquinhos and Pacho started at Marseille; Illia Zabarnyi and Lucas Hernández started against Le Mans.
Champions League 2026/27 explained: the format and the full league-phase table
Form
Seven wins in a row before the break; the eighth came at Anfield on 11 Oct.
Three wins in a row before the break, then 3–1 against Le Mans on 10 Oct.
The games, with scores
| Manchester City | 20 Sep | v SunderlandPL | W 5–3 |
| 17 Sep | v NorwichLC | W 5–0 | |
| 13 Sep | at Manchester UnitedPL | W 1–0 | |
| 8 Sep | at FC PortoUCL | W 2–0 | |
| 5 Sep | v CoventryPL | W 1–0 | |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 20 Sep | at MarseilleL1 | W 2–1 |
| 13 Sep | at BrestL1 | W 1–0 | |
| 9 Sep | v Slovan BratislavaUCL | W 6–1 | |
| 4 Sep | v MonacoL1 | L 1–2 | |
| 28 Aug | at LilleL1 | D 2–2 |
Latest first. Latest on the left. PL = Premier League, LC = League Cup, L1 = Ligue 1, UCL = Champions League. OddsIntel match database, read 10 Oct 2026.
Team news
Checked Sun 11 Oct 21:30 CEST: Sky Sports, mancity.com and NBC Sports for City; psg.fr (squad, line-ups, medical update, match reports), beIN Sports and Goal for PSG. UEFA.com had no team news yet. Reported = not yet confirmed by the club. Line-ups: confirmed about an hour before kick-off; they go under Updates. We don't publish guessed XIs.
Ferran Torres is missing from the last XI below only because he came off the bench at Marseille; he started against Le Mans. Marquinhos and Dembélé, next on PSG's list, started that day. All three of City's leading scorers, Haaland, Cherki and Antoine Semenyo, started at Anfield.
Paris Saint-Germain 4-3-3 · at Marseille, 20 Sep
- Safonov
- Zaïre-EmeryMarquinhos (key battle)PachoMendes
- NevesVitinhaRuiz
- DouéDembéléKvaratskhelia
- Haaland (key battle)
- SemenyoCherkiNdiaye
- AndersonFernández
- GvardiolGuéhiDiasNunes
- Donnarumma
Manchester City 4-2-3-1 · v Sunderland, 20 Sep
Both last XIs on a pitch
Paris Saint-Germain 4-3-3 · at Marseille, 20 Sep
- Safonov
- Zaïre-EmeryMarquinhos (key battle)PachoMendes
- NevesVitinhaRuiz
- DouéDembéléKvaratskhelia
- Haaland (key battle)
- SemenyoCherkiNdiaye
- AndersonFernández
- GvardiolGuéhiDiasNunes
- Donnarumma
Manchester City 4-2-3-1 · v Sunderland, 20 Sep
Who to watch
The duel to watch: Erling Haaland against Marquinhos. Haaland is City's leading scorer and started at Anfield. Marquinhos started at centre-back and scored the winner at Marseille, then sat on the bench against Le Mans; the club gave no reason and its medical update did not list him. Whoever starts in the centre has work to do. If Marquinhos starts and steps out to meet Haaland early, Cherki has room behind him; if he sits off, Haaland gets the half-yard he needs.
Manchester City
Rayan Cherki
Plays behind Haaland and scored the third at Anfield.
- 4
- goals, City's 10 games to 20 Sep
Paris Saint-Germain
Ferran Torres
Started against Le Mans on 10 Oct.
- 7
- goals, PSG's 9 games to 20 Sep
Goals in each side's last games we hold, all competitions: ten for City, nine for PSG. OddsIntel match database, read 10 Oct 2026.
Head-to-head
City won both legs of the 2021 semi-final and the 2021 group game at the Etihad. PSG won the most recent meeting, 4–2 in Paris in January 2025.
All 5 meetings
Result for Manchester City. The last five of the seven meetings we hold, back to 2016. OddsIntel match database, read 10 Oct 2026.
Numbers that matter
Goals scored, last nine: Manchester City 23, Paris Saint-Germain 17 (higher is better)
City score more, but PSG scored six in one game against Slovan.
Goals conceded, last nine · fewer is better: Manchester City 9, Paris Saint-Germain 11 (lower is better)
Slightly fewer for City; six of their nine came in two games, against Arsenal and Sunderland.
Clean sheets, last nine: Manchester City 4, Paris Saint-Germain 1 (higher is better)
The difference: PSG's only shut-out was at Brest.
Last nine games each, all competitions and friendlies, to 20 Sep. OddsIntel match database, read 10 Oct 2026.
Our call, explained
We have City winning 2–1. Their defence has tightened since the Community Shield: four of their last five games ended without a goal against. PSG's back line has changed from game to game, and Haaland is the striker most likely to find the gap. PSG will score, though: they have Ferran Torres, and with Dembélé and Mendes rested they arrive fresher than City, who played at Anfield three days before.
What could undo it. If Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia run at City's full-backs, City could let in two and a draw comes into play. The other way, City scored five twice in September; if Haaland scores early and PSG chase the game, this could be a wider win than one goal.
Updates
Nothing has changed since we published. Next: confirmed line-ups, about an hour before kick-off.
Data note: results, scorers, the table and line-ups from our database (API-Football), read 10 Oct 20:10 UTC, so the counts end on 20 Sep and leave out City's win at Liverpool and PSG's win over Le Mans. Team news and match details from Sky Sports, mancity.com, NBC Sports, psg.fr, beIN Sports, Goal and UEFA.com.
Timestamped before kick-off by an independent service (DigiCert, RFC 3161), Mon 12 Oct, 10:30 UTC. The call file is the exact version that was timestamped. call file · timestamp
fingerprint
sha256 ff028e3e5ff8d13695b1ffb1dbe5aa05e2bb365b8c08fd83d9102fc13e994e46
18/21calls right so far
Right means we called the winner, or the draw, after 90 minutes. 2 were the exact score.
This count includes 2 smaller-club games, which the scoreboard lists on their own.
Calling a home win every time: 11 of 21.
See every call