Di Maria scores twice as PSG beat Real
Angel Di Maria scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain recorded a 3-0 win over Real Madrid in Wednesday night’s Champions League clash in the French capital.
Los Blancos would have been looking to start their Group A campaign with a positive result at the Parc des Princes, but PSG had other ideas as they collected all three points with an impressive victory on home soil.
Di Maria scored twice in the first period for the Ligue 1 champions before Thomas Meunier added a third in second-half stoppage time on a tough night for Zinedine Zidane’s side, who had two goals disallowed.
PSG were without the services of Neymar through suspension, while Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani were also absent through injury, meaning that summer arrival Mauro Icardi led the French side’s line.
Madrid were also without a key player in the shape of captain Sergio Ramos, but a strong front three included Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale with the pair supporting the in-form Karim Benzema.
After a fairly slow start to proceedings, PSG made the breakthrough in the 13th minute when Juan Bernat’s low cross was poked into the back of the net by Di Maria.
The Argentina international’s effort came quickly at Thibaut Courtois, but the Madrid stopper will surely have felt that he should have done more in an attempt to prevent the ball from flying past him.
Hazard looked to answer back shortly after as the Belgian found space in a dangerous position before attempting to pick out the bottom corner, but the ball just flew wide of Keylor Navas’s post.
James Rodriguez then fired high and wide before Benzema headed a Bale cross past the post as the visitors looked to respond inside the first 25 minutes in the French capital.
Zidane’s side had another opportunity in the 32nd minute from a free kick in a dangerous position, but Bale saw his effort just dip over Navas’s crossbar at the final moment.
PSG doubled their lead moments later with the impressive Di Maria picking out the corner from distance after being found by Idrissa Gueye in a dangerous position.
Madrid thought that they were back in the match two minutes later as Bale managed to lift the ball over the PSG goalkeeper with a clever finish from distance. However, the goal was disallowed by referee Anthony Taylor for handball following a VAR check, much to the delight of the home supporters.https://theeagleonline.com.ng/di-maria-scores-twice-as-psg-beat-real/