Manchester City vs PSG: “We are not going to send a message to Europe”, Dembélé warns before the leaders’ meeting

The heavyweight meeting comes early in the season: on Wednesday 14 October (8pm UK time), the Etihad Stadium hosts Manchester City vs PSG on the second matchday of the Champions League, with both clubs leading their leagues. City have won all six of their Premier League games, including Sunday’s 3-0 at Anfield, and opened their European campaign with a 2-0 at Porto. PSG arrive on four straight wins, the last a 3-1 against Le Mans.

“We are not going to send a message to Europe”, says Dembélé

The day before the game, Ousmane Dembélé put the fixture back in proportion: a second matchday in October. Speaking to RMC Sport, he described a PSG preparing calmly, as in the previous two seasons for the matches that matter, and he dismissed the idea of a statement: “No, we are not going to send a message to Europe… It is October.”

Rested ahead of the trip, he claimed nothing more in L’Équipe: “It is the coach who decides.” On Tuesday evening he trained normally at the Etihad Stadium, like Nuno Mendes, both back from a few extra days of rest.

Donnarumma and Paris, more than a year after the split

The other story of the night lives in City’s goal. Gianluigi Donnarumma joined on 1 September 2025, after four Parisian years that ended coldly: on 15 August in Udine, Luis Enrique left him out of the squad for the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham while the club signed Lucas Chevalier. “I am disappointed and bitter”, the keeper wrote at the time.

The 27-year-old Italian speaks of no revenge: his son Léo was born in Paris, and Luis Enrique, back then, was simply looking for “a different profile of goalkeeper”. A contract extension Paris never found with its number one, a parting the keeper lived as a push out.

The front three and the referee of Bodø

On the Parisian side, RMC Sport expect: Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves or Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha, Ruiz; Doué, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia. Luis Enrique has his whole squad available: “This match comes at a good time to see what kind of match we can play. It is a challenge to play here.”

UEFA has handed the whistle to Germany’s Sven Jablonski, 36, who will take charge of a PSG side for the first time. City know him: on 20 January he officiated in Bodø/Glimt’s 3-1 win, a night that brought a red card for Rodri.