Under the Etihad Stadium lights on Wednesday night, Gianluigi Donnarumma will face the club that made him a European champion and then let him go. Manchester City’s 27-year-old goalkeeper is set to meet Paris Saint-Germain at 21:00 in the second round of the Champions League, with familiar faces waiting across the tunnel.
There should be no shortage of warmth before kick-off. Donnarumma embraced Ousmane Dembélé when France drew 1-1 with Italy at the Stade de France on 2 October, and he remains close to former PSG team-mates Marquinhos and Vitinha. He has also stayed in contact with club president Nasser al-Khelaïfi, despite the bitter ending to his four-year spell in Paris.
PSG chose not to keep the Italian after their 2025 Champions League triumph, a campaign in which he had played a decisive role in delivering the first European Cup in the club’s history. Luis Enrique’s staff and sporting adviser Luis Campos moved on, leaving Donnarumma with a return against his old side that carries more than a little personal weight.
A more complete presence at City
Donnarumma has long possessed the spectacular save, and that part of his game has travelled well to England. In the Premier League this season, the difference between the shots on target expected to beat him and the goals he has conceded suggests he has prevented more than three goals for City.
There have still been reminders of the old uncertainty. Poor clearances almost gifted opponents goals in the 1-0 win over Coventry on 5 September and in the 2-0 victory against Porto three days later. Yet his distribution now looks markedly more assured than it did in Paris.
At Anfield on Sunday, during City’s 3-0 win, Donnarumma calmly shifted the ball past Victor Munoz with a small feint. It was one revealing moment in a broader change. His first touch, awareness before receiving possession and accuracy over short passes have all improved, while he is also taking up higher positions in his area when opponents shoot.
That adjustment matters for a goalkeeper of his reach. By closing the distance earlier, he makes the target appear smaller to the forward. He has also become more willing to claim crosses rather than simply punch them away: he has held 80% of the deliveries he has dealt with in the Premier League this term, compared with 47% during 2024-25.
Finding a louder voice
The larger shift may be in Donnarumma’s authority. At PSG, despite being one of the senior figures in the squad, he was viewed as a calm and broadly agreeable presence rather than a dominant dressing-room voice. At City, he has become more demanding with the defenders in front of him and more prepared to make himself heard.
That leadership has been recognised with his appointment as one of City’s vice-captains this summer. It also distinguishes him from James Trafford, City’s former back-up goalkeeper who is now at Leeds, with Donnarumma considered to have brought a stronger command of his back line.
His reaction after the win at Liverpool offered another glimpse of the sharper edge now apparent in his character. As he left Anfield, Donnarumma confronted a Reds supporter who had called City cheats in reference to the club’s established guilt over 114 financial-rule breaches. Members of the City staff stepped in to restrain him.
It was an untidy postscript to a polished City performance, but perhaps also a fitting image before PSG arrive: Donnarumma no longer appears content to absorb the moment quietly, whether the danger is coming at him in the penalty area or from beyond the touchline.
