Laurent Blanc's Paris Saint-Germain went into their Group F clash with APOEL with ambitions of gaining three points to help cement qualification into the knockout rounds of the Champions League.
The Parisians turned in a dominant display to secure a 1-0 victory, thanks to Edinson Cavani's early strike which was enough to seal progress into the latter stages of the European showpiece.
Here, Sports Mole rates all of the players involved in the action at the Parc des Princes.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
Goal
Salvatore Sirigu: Had very little to do all night and presented APOEL with their only chance following an excellent point-blank save in the first half. (7/10)
Defence
Gregory van der Wiel: Fantastic performance from the full-back. He got forward with vigour and used the space on the flanks intelligently. Helped to keep APOEL on the back foot all night long. (8/10)
Thiago Silva: Commanding appearance from the experienced centre-back. Won everything that came his way and marshalled the Parisian troops. (7/10)
David Luiz: Worked well alongside Silva and had very little to do. Got forward and attacked the ball on set pieces and made a wonderful interception to limit a charging Georgios Efrem in the first half. (7/10)
Maxwell: Standout contribution from the left-back, did much the same job as Van der Wiel and delivered a number of high-quality balls into the box. (8/10)
Midfield
Blaise Matuidi: Broke up the play well, but failed to do much when in possession. Was shrugged off the ball on a few occasions and was often heavy on his passing resulting in his side giving up control of the play at certain points in the game. (6/10)
Javier Pastore: In and out of the fixture. Didn't look too interested half of the time, however he showed his class on a few occasions when going forward. Had the chance to score and instead blazed over from inside the box. (6/10)
Thiago Motta: Good overall performance from the midfield anchorman, put himself about to break up the play when APOEL did manage to get hold of the ball. Also made a number of promising runs forward as PSG looked to earn a second goal. (7/10)
Lucas: The Brazilian was relentless in his attacking play and could have had a hatful of assists had his teammates found the target. Was also denied by a standout stop by Pardo in the first half. Constant threat throughout and will trouble teams in the next round. (9/10)
Ezequiel Lavezzi: A quiet night for the Argentine and he was eventually subbed. He did work hard however, and also looked to stretch the APOEL defence when possible. (6/10)
Attack
Edinson Cavani: Grabbed the goal to secure progression, but the striker was incredibly wasteful. Had countless chances to kill off the game and could easily lose his place when Zlatan Ibrahimovic is declared fit to play. (7/10)
Substitutes
Yohan Cabaye: Introduced to slow down the tempo of the game and had very little to do. Put in a few tackles, very limited time to impact the game. (6/10)
Jean-Christophe Bahebeck: Looked bright following his introduction and showed good movement to get a shot away and earn a corner late on in the fixture. (6/10)
APOEL
Goal
Urko Pardo: Fantastic performance from the keeper to recover from such a horrible mistake one minute into the game. Was largely to thank for the scoreline remaining so low. (8/10)
Defence
Mario Sergio: Worked well to press PSG, but was frankly unable to keep up with the quality on show by his opponents. (6/10)
Joao Guilherme: Played valiantly at the back and worked well to marshall the defence. Read the play well on several occasions and looked to bring the defence up to press whenever achievable. (7/10)
Carlos Roberto da Cruz Junior: Again, played well throughout and grew into the game after looking a little suspect in the early stages. Might have afforded less room for the opening goal. (6/10)
Nicholas Ioannou: The former Manchester United youngster looked a little lost against the talent of PSG. Was shown up for both strength and pace by the Parisian wingers. (6/10)
Midfield
Figueiras Gomes: Had a rather poor first half and looked well off the pace of the game. Failed to provide an attacking outlet for the visitors and thus left his teammates open to the pressure of a dominant PSG side. (5/10)
Nuno Morais: Was at the heart of the few APOEL attacking moves and looked to keep possession when needed. Missed a sitter in the first half that could have potentially changed the complexion of the game. (6/10)
Vinicius: The standout performer in the APOEL midfield. Covered every inch of the pitch in an attempt to close PSG down. Such was his industry the dynamo covered 6.47km in the first half. (8/10)
Georgios Efrem: Another bright spark in the centre of the pitch. Looked to take the ball forward and made a few PSG players look silly with some neat skill at times. Failed to provide the killer ball in the final third, though. (7/10)
Attack
Gustavo Manduca: Very little to feed off in the game and was substituted after 60 minutes, might have held the ball up better to allow his side to breathe. (6/10)
Rafik Djebbour: Ran his socks off up front in an effort to close PSG's space, but suffered from a lack of effort from his strike partner. Also the victim of poor supply and had very little of the ball to make use of. (6/10)
Substitutes
Efstathios Aloneftis: The veteran perhaps did a little better than Djebbour and did manage to get a decent shot off on goal. (7/10)
Cillian Sheridan: Woeful performance from the substitute. Looked out of position on most occasions and surrendered possession in key parts of the pitch. Failed in attack and also in defence. (5/10)
Tomas De Vincenti: De Vincenti came on to replace Manduca, but there was really no difference between the two players. PSG were simply too dominant and clever in possession to give the APOEL strikers a sniff of the ball. (6/10)
No Data Analysis info
