If Pep Guardiola was unsure of the task facing his Manchester City side prior to their Champions League semi-final clash with Paris Saint-Germain, he knew exactly what he’d got himself in for by the 15-minute mark of the first leg.

The French champions were absolutely electric for the first quarter of an hour, with Neymar in particular running the City defence and midfield ragged as he showcased his extensive repertoire of flicks and tricks.

Needless to say he was offered some ‘rough’ treatment from the City backline as they looked to curtail his fun, but it’s no use focusing all your efforts on Neymar when Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria are pulling the strings the second your back is turned.

Guardiola will no doubt have been furious at the manner in which City conceded the opening goal of the game, as Ilkay Gundogan completely ignored his defensive duties in allowing Marquinhos a free run in the box before glancing Di Maria’s header home.

With little over 15 minutes on the clock it was already beginning to look like a damage limitations exercise for the visitors, and in all honesty if you’d offered Guardiola a 1-0 away defeat at that point he’d probably have snapped your hand off.

While City managed to create a couple of chances of their own in the opening 45 minutes, the two sides headed for the interval with only one outcome looking likely, and as Neymar emerged for the second half with a cheeky grin on his face you feared the worst for the visitors.

Well, so we thought anyway.

Guardiola’s side emerged for the second half looking like a totally different team and – aside from the occasional burst of pace from Mbappe – the architects of City’s downfall in the first half were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, City continued to surge forward creating wave after wave of pressure. While PSG may have more world-class individuals capable of moments of brilliance, City proved to be the world-class team of the two and they were ultimately rewarded.

Firsty, Kevin De Bruyne’s inswinging cross completely deceived the PSG back line and Keylor Navas before sailing into the top corner, before Riyad Mahrez’s free kick inexplicably slipped through the home side’s wall and into the back of the net.

One of the main reasons behind City’s second-half dominance was that they finally managed to get a foothold on the ball, and midfield lynchpin Rodri was key to their efforts.

The former Atletico Madrid man has come in for some criticism since his move to the Premier League, though he was exceptional in the Parc des Princes and his ability to keep hold of the ball and prevent PSG from mounting continuous waves of pressure was vital to City’s second-half display,

Who would’ve thought that not letting Neymar have the ball was the key to stopping him playing?

The Brazilian barely had a kick in the second 45, and his waning influence on the game caused a domino effect as the likes of Mbappe and Di Maria also struggled to impact proceedings. Again, who would’ve thought that stopping a team’s best player was the way to stopping them playing well?

Obviously there’s a lot more goes into it than us just sitting here saying ‘well stop Neymar playing then’, but the fact of the matter is City’s team game prevailed over PSG’s individuals.

Guardiola’s men were up against it in the French capital, but they showed they had the stomach for the fight and came out swinging, whereas PSG just didn’t fancy the battle, and that attitude looks like costing them their dream of European success.

If you had offered Chelsea a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid before kick off, Thomas Tuchel would have no doubt taken it.

However, as things progressed on Tuesday night you could not help but get the feeling that the Blues may come to regret not better exploiting Los Blancos’ terrible start to the game.

In the first half, but particularly in the opening 20 minutes, Chelsea looked sensational. Zinedine Zidane – who has received more credit as a tactician during his second spell in charge – had set up Real to match their opponents.

Los Blancos lined up with a back three of Eder Militao, Nacho and Raphael Varane with Dani Carvajal and Marcelo acting as wing-backs. On paper, this made sense and it was a tactic that Zidane also employed in the round of 16 against Atalanta. In the second leg of that tie, Real shaped up similarly to how they did on Tuesday night, securing a 3-1 victory.

The scoreline did not tell the whole story though, with Real not playing that well. It was much more a case of Atalanta losing the game than Zidane’s charges winning it.

They looked similarly uncomfortable in a back three against Chelsea.

On both sides, their wing-backs were leaving back gaps that the midfield – whose lack of legs was painfully clear whenever the Blues broke forward – could not fill. Marcelo’s positioning was particularly bizarre. In possession, the Brazilian was popping up all over the place, occasionally tucking into an almost defensive midfield position. Other times he camped out on the shoulder of the last defender.

Regardless of what vibe he was feeling going forward, he consistently failed to track back. This was exposed most blatantly in the 10th minute. After Mason Mount had skipped past a pair of wild challenges, he floated a ball to Christian Pulisic at the back post who then laid in on a plate for Timo Werner. He then did what he does best: miss an absolute sitter.

During this entire exchange Marcelo was not even in view of the camera and it would not be the last time than Varane was left to deal with Chelsea’s frightening transitions unaided.

During this lightning opening 25 minutes, Chelsea scored through Pulisic and registered four further shots while Real had just one. This was not the only metric the Blues dominated either. They also competed more dribbles, tackles and had more possession with their waspish pressing helping to keep Toni Kroos’ and Luka Modric’s influence to a minimum.

Yet for all their good work, they went into the break level with their opponents due to their inability to defend a set piece.

After the break Real tweaked their shape and managed to get a foothold in the game. It is unlikely they will make the same mistakes in Wednesday’s second leg either, suggesting that Chelsea may come to rue that missed Werner chance and their failure to capitalise on their fiery start in eight days’ time.