The Daily Mail journalist Ian Ladyman wrote the following column about Manchester City’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

For Manchester City, perhaps nothing will ever be quite as straightforward again. Not the future, not the present, not the politics, and perhaps not even the football itself.

Facing European champions Paris Saint-Germain, Enzo Maresca’s side had hoped to build on the momentum generated by their victory at Anfield on Sunday. Instead, with Pep Guardiola watching from the directors’ box in a flat cap, City found themselves on the brink of collapse, seemingly lifeless at the Etihad Stadium.

For a while, this looked like a night when reality finally came crashing down. The noise, celebrations and defiant declarations of the weekend gradually faded, leaving everything shrouded in gloom. With the coming weeks and even months likely to be overshadowed by profound uncertainty, the pressure began to feel almost unbearable.

By the 31st minute, City had already conceded three goals to Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain and looked destined for humiliation in front of their former manager and their own supporters. The score was 3-0, and it could easily have been 5-0. Goals from Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Vitinha seemed to rip a hole straight through the heart of Manchester City.

Yet somehow, City managed to find a pulse after being knocked to the ground. They responded, rediscovered their fighting spirit and launched a second-half comeback. Although the fightback did not quite become another two-fingered gesture to the world, it at least demonstrated that a manager and a group of players who had done nothing wrong would not meekly accept the complete marginalisation that so many appeared to want for them.

City ultimately failed to complete the comeback. Had they managed it, the achievement would have been extraordinary. But in the second half, they genuinely frightened Paris Saint-Germain, as the atmosphere around the match descended into complete madness.

Erling Haaland scored twice during this spell and also struck the crossbar. Near the end, with the score at 4-2, he came close to sliding in at the far post to score again. Heaven knows what might have happened had that effort gone in.

Between Haaland’s two goals, PSG’s Akliouche scored to ensure that City never quite closed the gap enough to seriously threaten their opponents. Meanwhile, in the dying moments, substitute and former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres stepped up to take a penalty for PSG but failed to convert it.

Nevertheless, when the final whistle blew, the vast, modern stadium remained almost full. After Maresca’s players completed their lap of appreciation, they were applauded by the supporters. How many teams concede four goals in a single match and still receive that kind of reception?

For one of England’s most successful clubs in recent years, this is a strange and even faintly frightening period. But if City really do end up tumbling down into the lower divisions, it seems they will face it together.

Even without the events of the past fortnight, this would have been City’s most important match of the season so far. After years of hard work, Paris Saint-Germain have finally established themselves as the benchmark of European football.

For a period, City simply kept making mistakes. Their performance in possession during the first half was dreadful, and it was during this spell that the contest effectively slipped away from them. They were slow, lacked intelligence in their play and allowed PSG far too much space to build their attacks at their leisure.

As ever, PSG displayed a frightening ability to exploit that space with their passing. Even so, Doué’s 13th-minute opener was simply unforgivable from the home side’s perspective. From 20 yards out, he struck a low shot that travelled between two City defenders before finding the net inside Gianluigi Donnarumma’s near post.

The way PSG celebrated their goal also reflected their respect for the quality of their opponents. This was an important night for Enrique’s team, too. Just two minutes later, they were celebrating again.

This time, the attack developed down the right, with the ball played into space. Dembélé delivered a perfectly weighted ball across the face of goal, and Doué cleverly flicked it back to him first time with a half-volley. The combination was exquisite. By the time Dembélé headed the ball into the net, it already felt as though the contest was over.

But it was not. Not yet, anyway.

City tried to regain their footing. They pressed aggressively in midfield and looked to stretch PSG’s defence by using their wingers, Jérémy Doku and Antoine Semenyo, as effectively as possible. Yet PSG always carried the threat of launching another devastating attack.

The speed with which they moved the ball into the final third was both exhilarating and unsettling. Just after the half-hour mark, right-back Achraf Hakimi headed Doué’s cross back towards goal. The ball struck the post, but it hardly mattered. PSG scored from the next attack anyway.

Donnarumma launched a goal kick, and City won possession around the halfway line. From there, every PSG player who touched the ball seemed able to take their time and play at their own pace. Only when the ball reached the edge of City’s penalty area did the tempo suddenly increase.

Warren Zaïre-Emery produced a perfectly weighted backheel, allowing Vitinha to collect the ball and fire a powerful shot into the net from 16 yards. The Portuguese international finished with precision.

At that point, City faced a clear choice: sink into defeat and fall apart, or find the strength to fight back from deep within themselves. To their credit, they chose the latter.

Before half-time, Doku and Haaland each created dangerous moments. Then came a tense and almost unbelievable spell of football after the break, as City continued to pile on the pressure, trying to claw their way back into the contest one goal at a time.

Within the first five minutes of the second half, City had three chances to score. Semenyo saw his effort blocked behind for a corner, Enzo Fernández headed wide, and substitute Iliman Ndiaye was denied from close range by Matvey Safonov, who blocked the shot with his body.

As the crowd became fully engaged, City surged forward on a renewed wave of emotion and energy. In the 53rd minute, Ndiaye delivered a cross, and Haaland beat the goalkeeper with a delicate header.

For a moment, a truly astonishing comeback seemed to be on the cards. Suddenly, it was PSG who looked a little bewildered.

After City launched one attack after another, Akliouche produced a fine turn to escape his marker before firing high from 18 yards. Donnarumma could only watch as the ball struck his outstretched hand, bounced upwards and then crossed the goal line.

Once again, the outcome seemed settled. But City launched another fightback.

Joško Gvardiol’s header was cleared off the line, before Haaland struck the crossbar with a shot of his own. With 15 minutes remaining, Haaland then calmly guided the ball into the net with the inside of his foot to score City’s second goal.

City continued to throw themselves forward.

It was a gripping, almost chaotic contest, resembling a schoolyard scramble in which chances kept appearing at both ends. Maresca’s side eventually recorded 27 shots on target from a total of 42 attempts.

It was an almost unbearable way to lose a football match.