De bruyne and Mahrez secure away goals for Man City in Paris

Manchester City will take a 2-1 lead back to the Etihad as they produced a stunning second half performance against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

City are in the last four for the first time since 2016, and only the second time in their history, after beating Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals.

It was a well-deserved lead, with Mauricio Pochettino’s side having got the upper hand in the tactical battle.

Neymar, Marco Verratti and Kylian Mbappe were all linking nicely, and during this period it was they who were threatening to score the game’s second goal.

There was the odd lapse, most notably when Phil Foden was given the freedom of the penalty area to smash straight at Keylor Navas, but their defending was strong and City were denied the opportunity to play the game at their rhythm.

City stepped up their press, exposing the technical vulnerabilities of the back four and denying PSG’s more able players possession. Without any kind of physical presence in attack, long passes simply resulted in the ball being returned to their guests.

The Premier League leaders were stung by an early Marquinhos goal as the hosts dominated the first half of a high-quality encounter at the Parc des Princes.

They responded brilliantly with Kevin De Bruyne equalising after 64 minutes and Riyad Mahrez firing home a free-kick soon after.

PSG lost their discipline as City threatened to score more in a strong finish and Idrissa Gana Gueye was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Ilkay Gundogan.

Foden and De Bruyne had late chances to put City in complete command but PSG escaped further damage.