Manchester City trailed 3-0 at the break after goals from Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Vitinha gave the European champions control at the Etihad Stadium. Erling Haaland scored twice after the interval, but Maghnes Akliouche’s fourth goal for PSG ultimately proved decisive.
The hosts created opportunities to make the finish even tighter, striking the woodwork and forcing PSG to defend under sustained pressure. Guéhi believed the contrast between the halves showed what City needed to change.
“First-half we need to do a lot better, myself included, for the first two goals,” the defender said. “I think they were a bit more aggressive and won a lot of one on one duels in the first-half which allowed them the platform to score them goals.
“Second-half I think was the complete opposite, we were a lot more aggressive. We won a lot more of the duels which gave us the platform to go and score those goals.”
Guéhi felt the reaction reflected the character of the team and the support they received from the crowd, despite the uphill task created by their first-half display.
“Not the best first-half but a lot of positives to take from the second-half. It says a lot about not just the players but the football club in general, the fans stuck by us the whole game. The support was amazing.
“I think every single person knew that as long as we kept fighting, there was something there for us. I think it’s only the beginning of the competition.
“Hopefully we can learn from this and put better performances in future games.”
Semenyo also identified City’s pressing as a key area to review after PSG punished them for getting their approach wrong.
“They are European champions for a reason. We just got our press wrong and were punished for that. We came out in the second half with a plan to fix it,” the forward said.
The Ghana international believed City’s finishing also contributed to the outcome. The hosts generated chances during their second-half surge, but Haaland’s two goals were not enough to complete the comeback.
“Our learning curve was just to be clinical. If we'd scored from all the chances we had, it would have been a whole different game,” Semenyo said.
Haaland’s brace took him past Sergio Agüero as City’s leading scorer in the Champions League proper, while also bringing his overall tally in the competition to 61 goals. His second goal, from Ayyoub Bouaddi’s cross, kept the contest alive, but PSG survived a late spell of pressure and Donnarumma saved Ferran Torres’s penalty.
For Guéhi and Semenyo, the response after half-time offered encouragement without disguising the cost of City’s slow start. Their task now is to carry the aggression and improved duel-winning into the next fixture, while avoiding the errors that allowed PSG to build such a commanding lead.