UEFA Champions League 2016/17: 5 moments that caught the eye in this week's Champions League
The Champions League returned with a bang and the results in the past two days have been nothing short of shocking. Paris Saint-Germain did the unthinkable as the inspired Parisians annihilated Barcelona 4-0 at Parc Des Princes with a masterclass by Angel Di Maria. Benfica caused an upset over Borussia Dortmund as the Portuguese giants won 1-0 on their home turf.
Yesterday's European games saw Real Madrid put in a great shift as the defending champions overcame Napoli's resistance with a 3-1 win at the Bernabeu, while Bayern Munich humiliated Arsenal 5-1 at the Allianz Arena as Arsene Wenger's shocking run in the Champions League continued.
Let's take a look at the five moments that caught the eye in the Champions League this midweek:
#1 The best night in Paris Saint Germain's history
After spending £600 million under new owners, signing multi-million dollar players and building a cash rich team, PSG were third time lucky against Barcelona in the knockout stages. The Parisians got knocked out twice at the quarterfinals stage against the Catalans in recent seasons but are in a comfortable position after emerging victorious in the first leg with a resounding 4-0 win.
More than the scoreline, it was the way in which PSG outplayed Barcelona in every department that was impressive as the Catalans suffered one of their worst defeat in recent times. Barcelona were so poor on the night that Spanish publication, Marca refused to give eight of their players a rating after the game.
Unai Emery deserves credit for setting his team in a way that denied Barcelona any time on the ball as the former Sevilla's manager expertise in European competitions paid dividends for the Ligue 1 side. This PSG team played like potential cup winners against Barcelona and owner Sheikh Mansour may finally have found the missing piece in the jigsaw in their bid for European success.