Manchester City vs Paris Saint-Germain: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Manchester City are well placed to reach their first European Cup final as they welcome a Paris Saint-Germain side who, buoyed by a long run of away wins, need another memorable victory in Manchester to keep their hopes alive.

• Paris struck first in the first leg at the Parc des Princes on 28 April, Marquinhos giving them a 15th-minute lead as they looked to reach a second successive UEFA Champions League final. City, however, fought back after the break thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne (64) and Riyad Mahrez (71) to give them an advantage to take back to Manchester, Paris suffering another blow when they lost Idrissa Gueye to a late red card.

• It was City's 50th victory in the European Cup and their sixth in a row – the club's longest winning sequence in the competition.

• While enjoying plenty of domestic success in recent years, both clubs have found European glory harder to come by. Paris did reach last season's final for the first time only to lose to Bayern München; City are at this stage for only the second time, their last three campaigns having foundered in the quarter-finals.

• Both clubs overcame German opposition to set up this semi-final, Paris gaining a measure of revenge by defeating Bayern while City got the better of Borussia Dortmund.

• City are undefeated in this season's UEFA Champions League (W10 D1), whereas Paris have already lost four matches (W6 D1).

• Paris or City could become the 23rd side to win the European Cup, and the first new name on the trophy since Chelsea's 2012 triumph.

Previous meetings
• City's only previous UEFA Champions League semi-final was secured with a win against Paris in the 2015/16 quarter-finals. The first leg at the Parc des Princes finished 2-2, De Bruyne's 38th-minute opener for City overturned by goals from Zlatan Ibrahimović (41) and Adrien Rabiot (59) before Fernandinho's equaliser 18 minutes from time.

• De Bruyne got the only goal 14 minutes from time in Manchester as Manuel Pellegrini's side prevailed against a Paris side coached by Laurent Blanc.

• De Bruyne, Fernandinho and Sergio Agüero played in both games for City, as did Ángel Di María for Paris. Layvin Kurzawa was an unused Paris substitute in both matches, with Marquinhos on the bench in France before playing 90 minutes in England, where Presnel Kimpembe was an unused replacement.

• Paul Le Guen's Paris earned a goalless draw against a Manchester City side managed by Mark Hughes at the City of Manchester Stadium in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage – City's first match against a French club. City finished first in Group A with Paris third, both sides progressing to the round of 32. Both eventually lost in the quarter-finals, City going down 4-3 on aggregate to Hamburg while Paris were beaten 3-0 over two legs by Dynamo Kyiv.

Form guide
Manchester City
• City lost their only previous European Cup semi-final:
2015/16 Real Madrid L 0-1 (0-0 h, 0-1 a)

• The Manchester club have played in two other UEFA competition semi-finals, both in the European Cup Winners' Cup. They beat Schalke in 1969/70 (0-1 a, 5-1 h) but lost to Chelsea at the same stage the following season (0-1 a, 0-1 h).

• City have therefore won only one of their three home legs in UEFA semi-finals (D1 L1).

• City are bidding to become the 42nd club to reach the European Cup final, and the third newcomers in successive seasons after Tottenham Hotspur in 2019 and Paris in 2020. They would be the 21st team to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

• City scored three goals in each of their first three Group C victories this season, beating Porto (3-1), Marseille and Olympiacos (both 3-0) before a 1-0 win in Greece on Matchday 4 secured progress. A goalless draw in Porto in their penultimate fixture confirmed City in first place before a closing 3-0 win at home to Marseille.

• Josep Guardiola's side then beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0 twice in the round of 16, with both games played in Budapest, before defeating Dortmund 2-1 home and away in the quarter-finals.

• The goal scored by Dortmund's Marco Reus in the 84th minute of the first leg ended City's run without conceding a UEFA Champions League goal at 790 minutes, since Luis Díaz's 14th-minute opener for Porto on Matchday 1. The record for the competition, set by Arsenal in 2005/06, is 995 minutes, with City now second in the all-time rankings having moved above Juventus (690 minutes).

• City finished second in the 2019/20 Premier League and bowed out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the third season running, going down 3-1 against Lyon in their one-off tie in Lisbon. They had finished first in their group with 14 points (W4 D2) before seeing off Real Madrid in the last 16, winning 2-1 away and at home against the 13-time European champions.

• This is the Cityzens' tenth UEFA Champions League campaign; they have been involved every season since 2011/12.

• City have scored 58 goals in their last 24 UEFA Champions League matches; over the last three seasons their record is W23 D4 L3 with 74 goals scored and 25 conceded.

• City have won their last five home matches in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase – and six of the last eight (L2) – but overall have won only seven of their 13 home knockout phase matches in the competition (D2 L4).

• Guardiola's team are unbeaten in 13 home European matches (W12 D1) since a 2-1 loss against Lyon on Matchday 1 in 2018/19, winning all five this season.

• City's record against French clubs is W5 D3 L3, with 21 goals scored and 16 conceded. At home it is W3 D1 L1.

• After beating Paris in 2015/16, City's other two-legged knockout tie against a French side came against Monaco in the 2016/17 round of 16, with Sergio Agüero scoring twice and Raheem Sterling and John Stones once apiece in a 5-3 home first-leg win; Guardiola's side would bow out on away goals, however, after a 3-1 loss in France. Kylian Mbappé scored in both legs for Monaco.

• Last season's loss against Lyon made City's knockout record against France teams W1 L2.

• This season's 3-0 win at Marseille on Matchday 2 ended City's four-game winless streak against French clubs (D1 L3). The first leg of this tie made it three successive victories against Ligue 1 opponents, with eight goals scored and only one conceded.

• City have never failed to win a European tie after an away first-leg victory. There have been 12 such contests, including in the round of 16 in each of the last three seasons – against Schalke in 2018/19, Real Madrid last season and Borussia Mönchengladbach this. The Madrid tie was the third occasion on which City won 2-1 away in the first game; as in the previous two instances, they also won the home second leg (2-1).

• City's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L0:
4-2 v Midtjylland, 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round
4-3 v Aalborg, 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 16

Paris
• This is Paris's third European Cup semi-final (W1 L1):
1994/95 AC Milan L 0-3 (0-1 h, 0-2 a)
2019/20 Leipzig W 3-0

• That 25-year gap between semi-final appearances is a UEFA Champions League record – beating Ajax's 22-year absence between 1997 and 2019.

• In 2019/20 Paris became the fifth French team to reach the European Cup final, after Reims (1956, 1959), St-Étienne (1976), Marseille (1991, 1993) and Monaco (2004). Of those, only Marseille, in the inaugural UEFA Champions League final in 1993, lifted the trophy.

• Paris would therefore become the third Ligue 1 club to reach multiple finals if they overcome City.

• Paris also reached the semi-finals of three UEFA Cup Winners' Cups and one UEFA Cup. Their record in those ties – which all took place between 1993 and 1997 – was W2 L2 with victories in the last two, against Deportivo La Coruña in 1995/96 and Liverpool in 1996/97, meaning last season's defeat of Leipzig made it three successive victories in European semi-finals.

• Paris have won six of their 11 games in this season's competition, including four in a row before they were held 1-1 at home by Barcelona in the round of 16 second leg. That nevertheless completed a 5-2 aggregate success, Kylian Mbappé having scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 first-leg victory at the Camp Nou.

• That win followed group stage victories at home against Leipzig (1-0), away at Manchester United (3-1) and – to book their round of 16 place as Group H winners – 5-1 at home to İstanbul Başakşehir. Paris also beat the Turkish club 2-0 away on Matchday 2, in between 2-1 defeats at home to United and away to Leipzig.

• Paris then eliminated holders Bayern in the last eight, going through on away goals after a 3-2 first-leg win in Germany was followed by a 1-0 home defeat.

• Mbappé has scored eight goals in this season's UEFA Champions League, all in the last six matches, and is in second place in the scoring charts, two behind Erling Haaland, whose Dortmund side were eliminated by City in the quarter-finals.

• Ligue 1 champions for the seventh time in eight years in 2019/20, and ninth time overall, Paris also won both domestic cups last season. This is the French side's ninth successive UEFA Champions League campaign and 13th in total.

• Paris reached their first European Cup final last season. They had beaten Dortmund in the round of 16 (1-2 a, 2-0 h), Atalanta in the one-off quarter-final (2-1) and Leipzig in the semi-final en route to a 1-0 final defeat by Bayern.

• The Parisians have now reached the knockout stages on their last nine UEFA Champions League appearances. They suffered three successive last-16 defeats prior to last season.

• Under Thomas Tuchel – who was replaced as coach by Mauricio Pochettino in January this year – the French club finished first in a section also including Real Madrid, Club Brugge and Galatasaray in 2019/20. They won five of their six games, drawing the other, and conceded only two goals to finish five points above Madrid.

• Paris had scored in 34 successive UEFA Champions League games, matching the competition record set by Madrid between 2011 and 2014, before drawing a blank in last season's final. They found the net in their first nine matches this term, and also in 23 successive UEFA Champions League matches at the Parc des Princes, before failing to score at home to Bayern in the quarter-final second leg.

• Paris have won 18 of their last 29 UEFA Champions League matches (D4 L7).

• The French side have also been victorious in ten of their last 17 away UEFA Champions League fixtures (D2 L5).

• Paris have won their last two away games against English clubs, recording a 2-0 victory at Manchester United in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, a tie they lost on away goals (1-3 h) before this season’s repeat win at Old Trafford. Their overall record is W3 D4 L5.

• Paris have won seven of their 24 games against English opponents, home and away (D8 L9), managing only three victories in their last 11 matches (D3 L5).

• The 2018/19 defeat by United made Paris's record in two-legged knockout ties with English opponents W3 L4. They have lost the last two; their last aggregate victory came against Chelsea in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 16, a tie in which they won 2-1 both home and away.

• Paris have suffered only four previous home first-leg defeats in UEFA competition, and lost every tie, most recently against Barcelona in the 2014/15 quarter-finals (1-3 h, 0-2 a). They have never previously lost 2-1 at home in the first leg.

• Paris's European penalty shoot-out record is W0 L1:
3-4 v Rangers, 2001/02 UEFA Cup third round

Links and trivia
• Pochettino and Guardiola have now faced each other 19 times as managers of Espanyol, Tottenham and Paris and Barcelona and City respectively, with the current Paris boss winning only three compared to 11 Guardiola victories.

• Pochettino's Tottenham side did beat Guardiola's City in a dramatic UEFA Champions League quarter-final in 2018/19, going through on away goals after a 1-0 home win was followed by a 4-3 defeat in Manchester.

• Mahrez was born in Sarcelles, a suburb of Paris, and played in France for Quimper at amateur level (2009/10) and for Ligue 2 side Le Havre as a professional (2010–2014) before moving to England.

• Have also played in France:
Benjamin Mendy (Marseille 2013–16, Monaco 2016–17)
Bernardo Silva (Monaco 2015–17)

• Aymeric Laporte was born in Agen in south-west France but, after spells with local sides SU Agen (2000–09) and Bayonne (2009/10), he moved to Spain aged 16 to link up with Athletic Club in 2010.

• Have played in England:
Ángel Di María (Manchester United 2014/15)
Ander Herrera (Manchester United 2014–19)
Idrissa Gueye (Aston Villa 2015/16, Everton 2016–19)
Moise Kean (Everton 2019/20)
Sergio Rico (Fulham loan 2018/19)

• Pochettino was Kyle Walker's manager at Tottenham between 2014 and 2017, when the defender signed for City.

• Have played together:
Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy & Kylian Mbappé (Monaco 2016/17)
João Cancelo & Moise Kean (Juventus 2018/19)

• On 1 August 2020 Danilo's Porto beat a Benfica side including Rúben Dias 2-1 in the Portuguese Cup final in Coimbra.

• International team-mates:
Sergio Agüero & Ángel Di María, Mauro Icardi, Leandro Paredes (Argentina)
Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho & Neymar, Marquinhos, Rafinha (Brazil)
Benjamin Mendy, Aymeric Laporte & Kylian Mbappé, Presnel Kimpembe, Layvin Kurzawa (France)
İlkay Gündoğan & Julian Draxler, Thilo Kehrer (Germany)
Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo, Rúben Dias & Danilo (Portugal)
Eric García, Rodri, Ferran Torres & Ander Herrera, Pablo Sarabia (Spain)

• Mbappé scored twice as France beat Argentina 4-3 in the last 16 of their victorious 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign, Agüero getting one of the South American side's goals.

Latest news

Manchester City
• Ederson's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• City have lost two of their last seven games in all competitions (W5), making it just three losses in 42 fixtures (W36 D3); they have not drawn a match since 15 December, a run of 35 games (W32 L3). They were 2-0 victors at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

• Sergio Agüero opened the scoring at Palace on what was only his sixth Premier League start this season after knee and hamstring problems. His goal in a 3-0 win at Fulham on 13 March was his first in the league since 21 January 2020; he had not played since 3 April before the weekend.

• On 29 March it was confirmed Agüero will leave City when his contract expires this summer. The Argentinian, who joined in 2011, is the club's record goalscorer with 258 goals in 386 appearances.

• Ferran Torres was also on target on Saturday, the second successive Premier League match in which he had found the net. The Spaniard has now scored ten goals for City in all competitions, the sixth player to reach that landmark for the club this season.

• On 25 April City claimed the English League Cup for the fourth year in a row – and the sixth time in eight seasons – thanks to Aymeric Laporte's late goal in the final against Tottenham at Wembley that secured a 1-0 victory.

• On 17 April, Josep Guardiola's side were beaten 1-0 by fellow UEFA Champions League semi-finalists Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals, ending their bid for an unprecedented quadruple.

• The loss to Chelsea was one of only three defeats for the Cityzens in 42 games in all competitions, since a 2-0 Premier League reverse at Tottenham on 21 November (W36 D3).

• City's 21-match winning run in all competitions had been ended by a 2-0 home derby defeat against Manchester United on 7 March. Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 101 seconds, the earliest Premier League goal City have conceded at the City of Manchester Stadium. That was also the first time City had trailed in 20 Premier League fixtures.

• City have won their last 19 away games in all competitions, surpassing the previous record for an English top-flight team of 11 they set themselves between May and November 2017.

• İlkay Gündoğan has scored ten goals in 16 Premier League appearances in 2021.

• Kevin De Bruyne was included in the UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year 2020.

Paris
• Paris have won 20 of their last 27 matches in all competitions (D1 L6), scoring 62 goals and conceding 24. They were 2-1 victors at home to Lens on Saturday.

• French Cup holders Paris reached the semi-finals of this season's competition with a 5-0 win over Angers on 21 April, Mauro Icardi scoring a hat-trick and Neymar also on target.

• Paris will visit Montpellier in the French Cup semi-finals on 12 May, with the winners facing Monaco or fourth tier Rumilly-Vallières in the 19 May final at the Stade de France.

• Kylian Mbappé, who missed the weekend game with a calf injury, has 19 goals in his last 15 Paris appearances, including a hat-trick and seven doubles.

• Mbappé has now scored 89 goals for Paris in Ligue 1. Only Edinson Cavani (138 goals) and Zlatan Ibrahimović (113) have more league goals for the club.

• Mbappé has scored twice in eight Ligue 1 matches this season, more than any other player. He is Ligue 1's top scorer so far with 25 goals.

• One of Mbappé’s doubles was in a 4-2 success at Lyon on 21 March, which brought up his 100th Ligue 1 goal on his 142nd appearance. Aged 22 years 91 days, he is the youngest of the 89 players to reach a century of goals in the competition.

• Paris have suffered eight Ligue 1 losses of the season, matching their total number of league defeats in 2010/11, when they finished fourth.

• Paris have lost five of their last ten home games in all competitions (W4 D1); in contrast, they have won their last ten away matches, scoring three or more goals in seven of them, including all of the last five, and hitting 29 goals overall while conceding only seven.

• The French side have lost eight times at the Parc des Princes this season, matching the club record from 2006/07.

• The first leg featured Ángel Di María's 103rd assist for Paris, equalling Safet Sušić's club record.

• Marquinhos was replaced with an adductor injury after scoring Paris's second goal in the quarter-final first leg in Munich, returning to open the scoring in the first leg against City. The Brazilian defender has scored in the quarter-final and semi-final of the UEFA Champions League in each of the last two seasons and has found the net in his last three Paris appearances having also struck against Lens.

• Colin Dagba had to be substituted in the first half against Lens due to an ankle injury.

• Juan Bernat is still sidelined by a knee ligament injury and has not been included in Paris's UEFA Champions League squad. The club extended his contract until 2025 on 16 March.

• On 26 April Paris extended Keylor Navas's contract for another year, keeping him at the club until 2024.

• Neymar was included in the UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year 2020.