Man City 22-23 vs. PSG 24-25: Why Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning team would “smother the brilliance” of Luis Enrique's 24-25 side

Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that there are “many reasons” as to why Pep Guardiola’s team from the 2022-23 campaign would beat Paris Saint-Germain’s 2024-25 side in a hypothetical one-off match.

The Citizens became just the second English team in history after rivals Manchester United to win a historic treble three seasons ago, as they lifted a third successive Premier League title, the FA Cup and their first-ever Champions League trophy.

PSG, meanwhile, followed up their domestic treble - Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions - by winning their maiden Champions League trophy after thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final just over six weeks ago.

Luis Enrique’s side were hoping to win a fifth trophy and become FIFA Club World Cup champions for the first time this summer, but they were surprisingly outplayed in a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in Sunday’s showpiece of the newly-expanded 32-team tournament held in the United States.

Over the weekend, there were some debates on social media between fans comparing Enrique’s impressive PSG team with Man City’s treble-winning side from the 2022-23 season, and understandably, many people share different views.

As a lifelong Man City supporter, McInerney has admittedly stated that his opinion is biased, but he has explained why he “truly” feels that the Citizens would “smother the brilliance” of PSG if they were to lock horns in a one-off contest.

Man City’s 2022-23 midfield “a slight level above” PSG’s 2024-25 team

Speaking to Sports Mole, McInerney said: “I'm very obviously clearly biased [but] I truly think City (would win) and I think there's many reasons why. I'm going to try and approach it logically.

“I look at the team that PSG have got. That midfield is Joao Neves, Vitinha [and Fabian] Ruiz - it's fantastic. I still think [Ilkay] Gundogan at his very best, Rodri at his very best, Kevin De Bruyne at very best (is better). Rodri's a Ballon d'Or winner. Gundogan, an absurd, experienced genius. De Bruyne, probably the greatest ever creative midfielder.

“I think [City’s midfield] is still a slight level above that (of PSG’s) in terms of control and intelligence. I think there's just a bit more experience there and they've got a bit more energy. I think that experience is everything.

“I look at the forward line that they've got - Khvicha Kvaratskhelia,  Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele - you've got to bear in mind what City came up against in that run (to win the Champions League). Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

“What made that City side so impressive was the physical power, the control and the nullification of that Man City side. The way that we had [Nathan] Ake (at left-back) and  [Manuel] Akanji or Kyle Walker at right-back. Then you had the centre-backs of [John] Stones and Ruben Dias - utterly on fire. There was a real physical dominance to that City side and all those players there roughly around six foot.

“Two of the midfielders were 5ft 7in,  5ft 11in (Foden and Gundogan) and 6ft 3in (Rodri). Then you had Jack Grealish out wide. At his very best was pushing six foot. [Erling] Haaland 6ft 5in.

“Then you had [Riyad] Mahrez or Bernardo [Silva] on the right, but you had all these players who were physically powerful, strong, dominant, could keep the ball, who were structurally well-organised, and as Grealish said felt like they were invincible at the time. They could go to anyone and beat them.

‘Man City would have just about smothered the brilliance of this PSG side’

“We saw City beat Bayern Munich 3-0, we saw them beat Real Madrid 4-0 (in the Champions League) and there was this relentless combination of physical power, experience and this real lust for victory.

“Bear in mind Man City also won their third Premier League title in a row in 2022-23, and I think they just hit this wonderful moment [where you could not] score against them, they were incredibly hard to score against.

“As good as Kvaratskhelia and Doue are, that is nothing that City didn't face already in that (Champions League) run. The wingers of [Leroy] Sane or [Kingsley] Coman (for Bayern), electric wingers out wide, and then the forwards [such as Karim] Benzema (for Real Madrid). [They both had] phenomenally gifted forward lines.

“PSG have been brilliant, they're a fantastic side. [Achraf] Hakimi, [Nuno] Mendes, cracking players, Marquinhos, [Lucas] Baraldo played against Chelsea the other day. I still would prefer John Stones [who received the] Man of the Match award in the Champions League final. Ruben Dias at his very peak, only a year or two before winning the Premier League Player of the Season and European Defender of the Season.

“I think there was something about the City side that was just utterly primed to win and they were on a relentless march towards a treble, to win three (Premier League titles) in a row that I think would have just about smothered the brilliance of this PSG side.”

McInerney does not believe that Man City’s 2022-23 team would have lost in the same fashion as PSG did to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final, while he also feels that PSG’s success in the 2024-25 campaign has come at a time when standards at the elite level have “dropped”.

“I think City played better sides on the way (to winning the Champions League) as well,” he added. “I'm not trying to downplay what [PSG have] achieved, but I do think the standards have dropped an awful lot actually in two years. I don't think Real Madrid are as good as they were. I don't think City were anywhere near (as good). City were miles worse off (last season).

“I look at what PSG achieved last season; the Inter Milan side City beat in the (Champions League) final was miles better than the Inter Milan side that PSG beat in the final as well.

“[PSG are] a cracking side, brilliant, electric and full of ideas, but I just think the standard is actually a little bit lower for some of the major teams because they've all treaded water a tiny bit and PSG hit this wonderful sort of a spur-of-the-moment energy.

"[Losing to Chelsea] in the final - there was no way that this City side gets beaten 3-0 by anyone in that run. Full stop. With all due respect to Chelsea, there's some good players there, but Man City are not getting beat 3-0 by a side that has Reece James playing in midfield, or Pedro Neto out wide, or people like [Marc] Cucurella and [Trevoh] Chalobah who are good players, but they're not that level. City [would] play much better than that.”

Man City’s treble-winning team is “vastly underrated”

McInerney feels that Man City’s treble-winning team is “vastly underrated” and a combination of their experience, control, power, “nastiness” and ability to win several high-profile matches against stronger opposition en route to their treble is why they would have the edge over PSG’s 2024-25 side.

He continued: “I think it'd be a cracking game, but I do think City's experience - and three years of it winning the league in a better [division] - would (see City) just control them a lot better than a lot of European sides have. I don't think it'd be 3-0 or 4-0, but I think City would know how to handle them, because they handled all those aspects of that side in that season.

“I think City were unbelievable in that Champions League campaign. The way that they beat Man United in the FA Cup final to win a treble as well. They had big game after big game after big game.

Man City 22-23 vs. PSG 24-25: Which team would win?

“That Arsenal side by the way were electric that year and City battered them at the Etihad 4-1 (in the Premier League). It was the most unbelievably aggressive, dominant display from that City side. There were performances like that every single week [during their title run-in] and I truly don't believe anyone could have stood up to them.

“I think it would have been one of the toughest games that even the great Barcelona side ever had, because of the combination of technical ability, players at their peak, the physicality of it, and the structure and the organisation of it.

“I think that City side is actually vastly underrated. I'm know I’m saying that as a City fan, but it was just a perfect moment for that City side of control, power, there was a bit of nastiness as well when they needed to.

“You had cheat codes defensively in Kyle Walker with his pace, Ake was insanely reliable, John Stones was getting Man of the Match (in the Champions League final), dribbling [from centre-back into midfield] more times than anyone in the final since [Lionel] Messi.

“Haaland should have won a Ballon d'Or that year - Haaland was in absurd form. De Bruyne was playing through pain to score wonder goals (including one) at the Bernabeu. Rodri curling it in against Bayern with his left foot from 20 yards, Gundogan with a brace in the FA Cup final. You couldn't stop them, they were just electric, so that is my opinion.

“PSG come close, but I think the quality of PSG is more akin to the quality that City played that year on their route to the Champions League final as opposed to the quality of this season's Champions League run, which I think was actually quite low compared to a few years ago.”

> Click this link to view and listen to the full discussion.

Written by
Oliver Thomas