Paris Saint-Germain are up and running in Group A of the UEFA Champions League after Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Malmo FF at Parc des Princes.
Goals from Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani ensured that the French champions made a smooth start to the new continental campaign.
However, on a night that was supposed to be Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s because of the visit of his former club, there will have only been one name on the lips of both sets of supporters after the match--and it was not the super Swede’s.
Aside from his opening goal, which was his first for Les Parisiens, Di Maria enjoyed an excellent 84-minute performance. The 27-year-old demonstrated exactly why PSG were so desperate to land the Argentina international from Manchester United this summer.
El Fideo was delighted with the result and very pleased with his first goal in the Ligue 1 giants’ colours when he spoke with PSG.fr after the final whistle:
It was important to win tonight. We worked hard and started the European campaign with a win. Now we will try and go on with it. On a personal note, I'm very happy to have scored my first goal. It was a very fast attack and I exchanged passes with Marco Verratti. I was in against the goalkeeper and I only had one option to score and fortunately for me, it went in.
Di Maria has made a strong start to life in Paris, and although he has only made three appearances so far, he has already made quite an impression. The South American was always going to become a key player for Laurent Blanc’s men—eventually—but few could have imagined he’d settle down this quickly.
His sensational assist for Ezequiel Lavezzi’s goal in the 3-0 win away at AS Monaco just before the international break was a sign of things to come.
Even in that 24-minute cameo, Di Maria’s potential influence on this team was apparent. He created a brilliant headed opportunity for Cavani with his first touch as a PSG player and laid on another few chances in the little time he got at Stade Louis II.
The recent international break helped to speed up the former Real Madrid man’s integration into Blanc’s squad. Aided by the fact that he was still recovering from the injury suffered in this summer’s Copa America Final, Di Maria was given permission to stay in Paris instead of reporting for international duty with Argentina.
With so many of his team-mates also remaining in the French capital for the break, such as captain Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta and Cavani, Di Maria has been able to quickly strike up a rapport with many members of the group.
His performance in the 2-2 draw at home to Girondins de Bordeaux last Friday was encouraging.
Although the Argentinian missed a good chance in the first half that he should have scored on, he was arguably PSG’s best player on the evening and created a number of opportunities for himself and his team-mates with his direct runs, accurate passes and pinpoint crosses.
That showing, during which he was dominant in parts, was evidently Di Maria warming up. Against Malmo, El Fideo ran the show.
From the start of the game, the summer signing was central to everything that the French giants were trying to do, and it did not take him long to overshadow Ibrahimovic on a night that was supposed to be his—at least according to the pre-match buildup.
Di Maria has featured more on the right of a loose front three so far, cutting inside onto his left foot wherever possible—like he did for his superb goal against Malmo thanks to a Verratti pass—but also providing a threat with his right.
He is creating plenty of chances for both himself and his team-mates in every game and has already shown himself to be the most creative figure in the PSG team in the past two matches.
It will be interesting to see how Blanc accommodates the dual inventiveness of Di Maria and Javier Pastore once the latter is fully fit and ready to return to the starting XI.
Ibrahimovic, Verratti and Motta are all important figures for Le President in this PSG team, but it seems as if Di Maria's significance is already great. It will only keep growing as he becomes more and more familiar with his new team, Ligue 1 and the tactics used by domestic opponents.
On the evidence of his Malmo performance and what we have seen from him against Monaco and Bordeaux, there will come a time—perhaps in the not-too-distant future—when he is undoubtedly PSG’s key component.
via http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2567450-angel-di-maria-rapidly-becoming-key-component-for-psg-after-malmo-win