Even in their wildest dreams, PSG would not have thought their Champions League last 16 first leg against Barcelona would go as well as it did. To score goals, goals and more goals and keep a clean sheet against the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar would have required a perfect performance and a perfect performance is just what PSG put up against Barca.
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With the Parc des Princes crowd purring in delight, PSG turned this famed Barcelona side inside out, scoring four goals to put one foot in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.
If Barcelona do not put up a similar performance in the Camp Nou on March 8, they will go out of this tournament at this stage for the first time in a decade.
It is hard to imagine how Barcelona will come back from this, because if PSG put up even half the level of performance from this first leg, they should have enough to go through to the last eight of the UCL.
In the first leg, there was only one team. Against a passive, ball-hugging Barcelona, PSG showed their prowess on the counter-attack as we as setpieces to take control of the tie.
Angel Di Maria opened the scoring with a freekick, before Julian Draxler got his name on the scoresheet just before halftime, firing in a low drive off a nice pass from Marco Verratti, who was, again, excellent.
Ten minutes into the second half and Di Maria, celebrating his 29th birthday, made it 3-0 for PSG with a rasping shot from distance, with Edinson Cavani, the second birthday boy in this match, making it a scarcely-believable 4-0 with a little under 20 minutes to go.
"The result reflects what happened out on the field," a downcast Barcelona manager Luis Enrique said. "We were clearly second best.
"I'm responsible for this. We might need to change our shape, but it wasn't really the shape that was to blame. They are world-class players with a lot of quality. Di Maria in particular was very, very good."
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