Angel Di Maria was at his absolute best, Paris Saint-Germain were at their ruthless best and Barcelona were thoroughly bested by PSG in a Champions League showing to remember for the French side on Tuesday.
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Knowing a big first leg lead would be needed to quell the impending Barca Camp Nou storm, PSG turned on the style in their own backyard, giving everything their fans would have dreamed of and more.
Di Maria, on his 29th birthday, finished with a brace and Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani, another birthday boy, added one each as PSG thumped Barcelona 4-0 in the last 16 first leg, with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar unable to do little up front.
This was a performance that would have sent a message out to all the teams left in the Champions League this season. PSG were outstanding going forward – they had 16 shots in total, ten of them on target, to Barcelona's six, of which one was on target, and equally brilliant at the back, with the debutant Presnel Kimpembe, filling in for the injured Thiago Silva, putting on an outstanding performance.
In the other game of the day, Benfica edged Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in Portugal, with the profligate German left to rue a penalty miss from their striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
"Aubameyang is not fully fit after the African Nations Cup and his body language did not suggest that he would do better after giving away the penalty," Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel said.
"It is an extremely complicated result, but I am very proud of how we played. Even though I am very disappointed, I am proud of how we presented ourselves.
"To play this well and to still lose, that's only possible in football. Luckily, there's a return leg for such games."
Kostas Mitroglou was the lone goalscorer in the game and now Dortmund have a difficult task at hand at home if they are to continue their Champions League sojourn this season.
"It was a tasty victory for sure," Benfica coach Rui Vitoria said. "Speaking of justice after a game like this is tricky. I agree that Dortmund is a strong opponent and that they had the best of this game.
"We lacked something in the defensive process during the first half, but changed at halftime. Besides that, we analysed that set-pieces could be a way of hurting Dortmund and it worked.
"The game at Dortmund will be difficult, but we will have something to say.
"There are things we can improve. We fought, gave our best, and victories are also made of that."
Results:
PSG 4-0 Barcelona.
Scorers: Angel Di Maria (18, 55), Julian Draxler (40) and Edinson Cavani (71).
Benfica 1-0 Borussia Dortmund.
Scorer: Kostas Mitroglou (48).
