Paris Saint-Germain worthy winners, says Blanc

Laurent Blanc was delighted with Paris Saint-Germain’s performance as they kept pace with Real Madrid at the top of Champions League Group A thanks to a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

First-half goals from Serge Aurier and David Luiz had put the visitors 2-0 ahead in Lviv, and though Shakhtar pressed hard to pull one back after the interval, Darijo Srna’s late own goal put the result beyond all doubt.

And Blanc believes that the result was fully deserved, though admitted the scoreline did not reflect a much-improved second-half display from the hosts, who went close on multiple occasions through the impressive Alex Teixeira.

“The score may be flattering, but the victory is well deserved,” Blanc told Canal+. “The operation of today was satisfactory, to get three points here is good.

“We said before the game that the opponent was quality, and they confirmed that. They had some interesting play that caused us problems in possession, so to not concede against a team like this, it means we defended very well.

“At 2-0 we felt the need to push for a third. It was slow, yes, but eventually we got it. Shakhtar always stuck to their philosophy, and it gave a good game.”

At the heart of PSG’s defence was captain Thiago Silva, and the Brazilian claims the Ligue 1 side are confident of overcoming Madrid in their next two Champions League fixtures.

“We have to continue like this, but keep our feet on the ground,” he said.

“We are not in the knockout phase yet, the matches against Real will decide that. If we continue as well, we can win.”