Two goals from Angel Di Maria and one apiece from Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani gave Paris Saint-Germain an unexpected and potentially unassailable 4-0 lead against Barcelona in their Champions League round of 16 first leg tie.
Di Maria turned in a man-of-the-match display on his 29th birthday, opening the scoring with a precise free-kick and bending home a second in the second half at Parc des Princes.
Barca were brushed aside with ease as Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani added their names to the scoresheet and the margin might even have been bigger.
The job must still be finished off in the return leg at the Nou Camp but Di Maria, who won the competition with Barca’s El Clasico rivals Real Madrid in 2014, is already setting his sights on the big prize.
“It’s hard to think of a better birthday or a better performance than this,” he said.
“Our aim is to reach the final and win the Champions League. We are getting there gradually and moving forward – this was a tough game against one of the best teams in the world, so we did a great job.
“We’ve been showing this for a few years now. We controlled the game for 90 minutes. It’s not easy to control Neymar, (Luis) Suarez and (Lionel) Messi but we managed it.
“We covered so much ground, worked so hard as a team and the most important thing is we got the win and a big step forward.”No team have ever come back from losing an away game 4-0 in two-legged European competition but Di Maria insists there can be no dip in standards if his side are to seal passage to the quarter-finals in Catalonia.
The Argentinean added: “There is still more to do at the Nou Camp. They will come out of the blocks fast to put pressure on us so we have to do the same as tonight and even more.”
The message from a downcast Barcelona camp was clear: they had been bested by a superior opponent.
Head coach Luis Enrique told Uefa.com: “The result reflects what happened out on the field. We were clearly second best.”
Midfielder Sergio Busquets echoed his boss, adding: “The were better than us. They played better, they were better tactically and they out-did us physically.”
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