Paris - Edinson Cavani has scored twice and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was also
on target as Paris Saint-Germain beat Ajax 3-1 at the Parc des Princes
in Champions League Group F on Tuesday.
Cavani's first-half
opener was cancelled out by Davy Klaassen midway through the second half
as Ajax looked set to leave the French capital with a point, but
Ibrahimovic scored his first goal for his club in nearly three months to
put the hosts back in front in the 79th minute.
And Cavani then
made sure of the victory as PSG moved a step closer to their objective
of advancing to the last 16 as group winners, the result allowing them
to maintain a one-point lead over Barcelona with a trip to the Camp Nou
still to come next month.
Barcelona won 4-0 away to APOEL in
Cyprus in the night's other game, but with both sides already through to
the last 16 before this matchday, the French champions now know that a
draw in Spain next month will see them progress in first place.
The
statistics make for impressive reading for Laurent Blanc's side, who
have now won eight games in a row in all competitions and remain
unbeaten this season, a status shared only with Chelsea in Europe's
leading leagues.
PSG are also now undefeated in 32 European
outings at the Parc des Princes, a record that stretches back over eight
years, although Ajax could count themselves a little unlucky to return
to Amsterdam with nothing to show for their efforts.
The Dutch
champions, with only one player aged over 25 in their starting line-up,
played the better football for long spells but, having already been
eliminated before this game, can now look forward to a home game with
APOEL in two weeks in which they will hope to secure the consolation of a
place in the Europa League in the new year.
The loss of captain
Nicolai Boilesen to injury after just 10 minutes came as a blow to Frank
de Boer's side but it did not prevent them from keeping the ball for
long spells inside the opposition half.
Nevertheless, a PSG side
missing Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta, Marco Verratti and Yohan Cabaye
fired the first real warning shot in the 24th minute.
Ibrahimovic,
facing his former team, played Ezequiel Lavezzi through with just the
goalkeeper to beat but the Argentine was denied by a fine Jasper
Cillessen save.
Only a superb interception by Gregory van der
Wiel prevented Arkadiusz Milik from closing in on goal at the other end
before Paris broke the deadlock just after the half-hour mark,
Ibrahimovic lofting a pass over the Ajax defence for Lavezzi, who
squared the ball to Cavani and allowed the Uruguayan to finish into an
empty net.
That should have given the hosts a platform from which
to build but instead they appeared content to try and see the game out,
and were duly punished in the second half.
Tricky teenage winger
Ricardo Kishna whipped in a glorious cross from wide on the left and
Klaassen stooped to head low into the net past the despairing dive of
Salvatore Sirigu.
Lasse Schone then curled a free-kick narrowly
over for the away side but it was Paris who struck again 11 minutes from
time, Ibrahimovic controlling and volleying past Cillessen from the
right-hand side of the box to find the net at the far post.
And
as the rain lashed down, a poor back-pass by Niki Zimling allowed Cavani
to round Cillessen and make it 3-1 in the 83rd minute as he scored his
seventh goal in his last seven games for the club.
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