A classy brace from Angel Di Maria helped put a dreadful Barcelona to the sword intheir last-16Champions League clash on Tuesday night.
Angel Di Maria has now been directly involved in 10 goals in 14 Champions League games since joining PSG.
7 goals
3 assists
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Di Maria began the onslaught with a wonderful curling free-kick to put PSG ahead in the 18th minute. New boy Julian Draxler made it two just before half time with a cool finish into the bottom left hand corner.
Barcelona were expected to come out fighting in the second half but no such resistance came, as the French champions continued to slice through Barca's defence withincontrovertibleease. Di Maria got his second goal of the game in the 55th minute with a wonderful left footed finish from outside of the box with Cavani putting the icing on the cake with a drilled right footed shot twenty minutes from time. Although the Catalans began to show glimpses of a consolation towards the end of the game, it was too little too late, with PSG keeping a deserved clean sheet to take to the Nou Camp.
Paris Saint-Germain were the quickest out of the blocks, closing Barcelona down and not affording them the room that they are so used to enjoying against many teams.And their intensity paid off when Angel Di Maria left Barca keeper Marc-Andre Ter-Stegen rooted to the spot with a wonderfully placed free-kick from just outside the area.
GOAL! Paris 1-0 Barcelona (Di MarÃa 18) #UCL pic.twitter.com/fd6KBwK1PB
The hosts kept on attacking, determined to ensure that they made the most of what looked a disjointed and dazed Barca side. Their persistence was rewarded in the 40th minute, when Julian Draxler got in behind the visitor's defence and finished coolly passed Ter-Stegen and in to the bottom corner. Parc des Princes was rocking, and PSG would have bitten your hand off if you'd offered them a 2-0 victory against the Spanish giants.
Julian Draxler has now scored for PSG on his:
Ligue 1 debut âš½
Coupe de France debut âš½
Champions League debut âš½
Thriving at the club. pic.twitter.com/WgUqITIdPi
After the break, the chances kept coming thick and fast for the French outfit, with Barcelona manager Luis Enrique's half time team talk seemingly forgotten by the majority of his team.
Deservedly, Argentinian winger Angel Di Maria added a third for PSG, bending a wonderful finish to the right of the goalkeeper and sending the Paris Saint Germain faithful in to dreamland.
Barcelona were as poor as PSG were impressive, with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar looking like shadows of their usual selves: careless, wasteful and out of ideas. In fact, the Catalans only managed one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes, with Andre Gomes testing Kevin Trapp early in the first half.
With Barcelona on the ropes, PSG went for the jugular, with Blaise Matuidi, Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani flooding forward at any given opportunity. And birthday boy Cavani rounded off the win with a sublime right footed finish in the 72nd minute, beating Ter Stegen at his near post and potentially wrapping the tie up even before the French side make the return trip to Spain.
Luis Enrique's side did come in to the game within the last 10 minutes, with defender Samuel Umtiti's header striking the post towards the end of the match. But it was Paris Saint-Germain who ran out deserved 4-0 winners, and will be confident of progressing the the Quarter Final stage when they visit the Nou Camp on March 8th.