Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Paris Saint-Germain 3: Defensive duo help Blanc´s men to victory

First-half goals from defenders Serge Aurier and David Luiz helped Paris Saint-Germain to a 3-0 Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Laurent Blanc’s side raced ahead after just seven minutes, Aurier latching onto a cross from the left to nod in, before Luiz nudged them further ahead 16 minutes later.

PSG were almost made to pay for the wastefulness of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Angel Di Maria in the second half, with Alex Teixeira being denied by both Kevin Trapp and the woodwork.

But they could not find a way through PSG’s back line and Ibrahimovic’s deflected third rounded off a convincing victory as the match approached stoppage time.

The Ligue 1 champions maintain their unbeaten start to the season in all competitions and keep pace with Real Madrid at the top of Group A.

The visitors made an excellent start, Aurier capitalising on poor defending from Taison to head home at the back post from fellow full-back Maxwell’s floated cross.

Aurier should have had an assist to his name 10 minutes later, whipping in a delightful delivery from the right, yet Ibrahimovic somehow headed wide of an open goal.

PSG had a second soon after, although it came in a fortunate manner, the ball looping in under the bar off the thigh of Luiz after more poor marking from Shakhtar.

Di Maria should have done better shortly before the half-hour mark when, having beaten the offside trap, his tame dink was parried wide by Shakhtar stopper Andriy Pyatov.

For all PSG’s domination, Shakhtar almost pulled one back on the stroke of half-time, Oleksandr Gladkiy twice missing from close range following good play from Teixeira, before Marlos fired over.

Taison went close to atoning for his earlier lapse in concentration five minutes after the restart, the midfielder curling a drilled strike just wide of the right-hand upright.

Marco Verratti, typically impressive in midfield, looked destined to net his first goal of the campaign with a sumptuous half-volley, but the shot was well blocked by Olexandr Kucher.

Despite Di Maria’s earlier chance, Shakhtar continued to employ a high defensive line, and the Argentina winger found himself through on goal once again on the hour mark, but his chip landed on the roof of the net.

Lucescu introduced Bernard in place of Taison, and the diminutive playmaker soon made an impact, finding Gladkiy with a wonderful cross, but the forward was unable to direct his header on target.

Trapp had to be alert to deny Teixeira, who was then unfortunate not to snatch a deserved goal with a superb effort from distance that clipped off the top of the bar.

But PSG’s victory was finally capped off in the final minute of normal time, Ibrahimovic ghosting in behind Shakhtar’s defence before slotting in via a deflection off Darijo Srna.