Di Maria fires PSG to victory over Real
BERLIN: A firsthalf double from Angel di Maria capped a superb Paris SaintGermain performance yesterday as it downed Real Madrid 30 in the Champions League while Atletico Madrid struck late to draw 22 with Juventus.
Zinedine Zidane’s Real offered only occasional resistance while PSG, even without suspended Neymar and injured Kylian Mbappe, missed several chances before Thomas Meunier added an injurytime third.
It tops group A after Club Brugge drew 00 with Galatasaray.
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Spain with Juventus but it was Juan Cuadrado and Blaise Matuidi who scored for the Turin side before Stefan Savic and Hector Herrera rescued a lastgasp point for Atletico.
Bayer Leverkusen lost 21 to Lokomotiv Moscow in the other group D contest.
Manchester City cruised 30 at Shakhtar Donetsk in group C and Atalanta crashed in its first Champions League game 40 at Dinamo Zagreb.
In group B, Bayern Munich beat Socceroos star Milos Degenek’s Red Star Belgrade 30 and last season’s beaten finalist, Tottenham Hotspur, drew 22 at Olympiacos.
It was a tough night in Munich for Degenek, who once again played at the heart of the visiting side’s defence.
Apart from conceding goals to Kingsley Coman (34th), Robert Lewandowski (80th) and Thomas Mueller (91st), Degenek also received a caution.
PSG needed only 14 minutes to open the scoring when Di Maria poked home at the near post and the Argentina midfielder soon found the corner from 20m to double the lead.
Gareth Bale immediately replied with a wonder goal of
his own which was correctly disallowed for hand ball and Karim Benzema also had a strike ruled out after the break.
But these were occasional positive moments for the record 13time European champion which ended the game without an official shot on target.
‘‘We had opportunities tonight,’’ Real midfielder Casemiro said. ‘‘We scored two ‘goals’ which didn’t stand but we can’t have any excuses.’’
PSG spurned various opportunities but Meunier, combining with Juan Bernat, put the icing on the cake in injury ime.
‘‘There’s no message sent, but we dominated this game very well,’’ PSG captain Thiago Silva told RMC Sport. ‘‘We were very efficient and solid, which we needed to be.’’
Juventus has high hopes of finally ending a Champions League drought dating since 1996 and a great finish from Cuadrado, plus a header from Matuidi put it in front in Madrid.
Atletico soon replied through Savic and Herrera powered in from a corner for a lastminute equaliser against the side which eliminated it last year.
‘‘I think we played well but we have a bitter taste in our mouth now because we felt we had the game in our hands,’’ Juve coach Maurizio Sarri said.
Spurs blew a twogoal advantage at Olympiacos having led through Harry Kane’s penalty and Lucas Moura.
However, Daniel Podence pulled one back before halftime and Mathieu Valbuena levelled from the spot early in the second period to earn the Greeks a deserved point.
Pep Guardiola’s City had little trouble in dismissing Shakhtar on goals from Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Guendogan and Gabriel Jesus. — DPA