Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona 4-0 at the Parc des Princes in their Champions League last 16 first leg on Tuesday in a game that more or less one-sided.
Angel Di Maria scored a brilliant brace on his birthday - first in the 18th minute and curled in another 10 minutes into the second half. Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani scored one each to take the finally tally to 4-0 in PSG’s favour.
Barcelona were completely stunned, the defeat their biggest European humiliation since losing 7-0 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in the semi-finals in 2013. Chances are that the team may be the first to exit from the competition before the quarter-finals in a decade, unless they can pull off a miraculous escape in the second leg at the Camp Nou next month.
PSG had twice been eliminated from the Champions League at the hands of Barcelona in the last four seasons, and the Catalans also had a fearsome record in games against sides coached by Emery, losing just one of 23 before this. But Luis Enrique’s team, for all the brilliance of Lionel Messi, have recently looked more fragile than in a long time and the French champions showed no fear.