PSG ease past Shakhtar in Group A of Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain remained on course for its Group A showdown with Real Madrid, taking command early and going on to collect a workmanlike 3-0 Champions League road victory over Shakhtar Donetsk Wednesday night.

Defenders Serge Aurier and David Luiz scored inside the first 25 minutes and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's attempt was deflected home by Darijo Srna in the final minute as Laurent Blanc's side won for the second time in as many starts ahead of the coming back-to-back match days against the group's other giant in the next two rounds. Off Wednesday night's away form, PSG looks very much like a side that wants to do more than merely contend for the title this season.

Shakhtar, losing for the second straight time, will likely have to turn its attention to at least finishing third in a group that always looked extremely difficult. They gave the visitors too much of a head start in the Lviv Arena on this night and were not able to put together the required fight back against a Parisian team that appeared composed and confident from the kickoff.

PSG needed only seven minutes to get on top when Aurier beat Taison in the air at the far post to head home a cross from Maxwell who had made the opening from wide on the left. Luiz made it 2-0 16 minutes later when he came between disorganized defenders to body home a corner from Angel DiMaria. The ball fell onto the Brazilian's thigh as he stepped between would-be defenders into space.

That second goal came after a sliding tackle denied Maxwell a possible goal from an Edinson Cavani cross with the resulting corner creating Luiz' opportunity. Zlatan Ibrahmiovic also had seen a header chance fly wide of the left post in the 17th minute as the visitors took apart the Shakhtar backline easily, able to find room wide whenever they wanted.

Shakhtar, often a spoiler at this stage in a European campaign, offered had a first half edge in shots but created few real chances against the effective PSG side. A Darijo Srna free kick hardly troubled Kevin Trapp in the French side's goal but PSG did escape a scramble in the box just before the break when Olexandr Gladkiy had his shot blocked away after Alex Texeira had done excellent approach work low on the left, forcing a good save from Trapp.

Skahthar had more energy about its attack in the second half while still lacking the the finishing touch. Much of what they did was down to the individual work of Taison or Alex Texeira, who hit the crossbar with what might have been the goal to bring the hosts back into the game with 12 minutes left. To cap a frustrating night for the attack, Texeira skied one more chance over an open net in the 87th minute.

Ibrahimovic neatly finished a counter attack in the 89th minute to make the final score resemble the difference between the two sides. He outran the last defender to collect a pass from Javier Pastore before sliding the ball past Andriy Pyatov, where Srna, attempting to defend, turned it into his own net.

Aurier was prominent in the PSG backline along with Thiago Silva, Maxwell and Luiz, all of whom produced timely clearances whenever Shakhtar threatened to string passes together in the box, while Trapp was sharp when he had to be.

PSG was content to keep what it had built in the opening stages, doing enough attacking to keep Shakhtar from throwing everyone forward, but not risking much itself in the final 45 minutes.