Paris Saint-Germain edged closer to the Champions League’s last 16 as goals by Ángel Di María, Lucas and Edinson Cavani secured a flattering 3-0 home win against Basel in Group A on Wednesday.
Di María put the hosts ahead five minutes before the break, Lucas made it 2-0 in the second half and Cavani’s last-gasp penalty rounded it off to put PSG on seven points after three games, second in the group on goal difference behind Arsenal, who hammered Ludogorets 6-0. Basel, who struck the woodwork three times at the Parc des Princes, are third on one point ahead of Ludogorets on goal difference.
The reverse games will be played on 1 November when PSG, who were under-par for much of the game on Wednesday, will need to raise their performance level if they want to stay in contention for top spot.
Adrien Rabiot stood out for PSG but most of the midfielder’s team-mates failed to impress and things could have turned sour for Unai Emery’s side had Basel been more clinical.
The French side got off to a shaky start and the visitors came close to opening the scoring in the fifth minute when Michael Lang’s header struck the bar.
Basel hit the woodwork again in the 36th minute, this time through Seydou Doumbia, whose header crashed against Alphonse Areola’s left-hand post.
PSG did improve, however, and five minutes before the interval Blaise Matuidi’s low cross was poked by Cavani into the path of Di María, who fired a right-footed shot into the net from close range. It was then PSG’s turn to hit the woodwork as Cavani’s header struck the post three minutes into the second half.
The Uruguay striker had a huge opportunity to double the advantage shortly after the hour but he was denied by Tomas Vaclik. The Basel keeper, however, could do nothing to prevent Lucas pouncing on a poor clearance to find the back of the net in the 62nd minute.
Marek Suchy’s header then struck Areola’s right-hand post as the Swiss side continued to be plagued by bad luck and their misery was completed when Cavani was brought down by Lang and converted the resulting penalty three minutes into stoppage time.
Elsewhere, Vincent Aboubakar scored twice, including an 86th-minute winner, to give Besiktas a shock 3-2 victory at Napoli in Group B after the hosts had twice come from behind and missed a penalty along the way. Napoli’s defence was at fault for all three Besiktas goals as the Serie A side slumped to a third successive defeat in all competitions and lost an 18-match unbeaten home record in Europe.
Napoli would have become the first team in Champions League history to qualify from the group stage with three matches to spare if they had won and the other match, between Dynamo Kyiv and Benfica, had been drawn. Instead, they remained on six points and are now just one ahead of Benfica and Besiktas with half the group still to play.
In Group D, Bayern Munich crushed the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven 4-1 to bounce back after three games without a win in all competitions and take a big step towards the last 16.
What had started as a walk in the park with Bayern riding roughshod over the Dutch side with goals from Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich turned into a nervous affair after PSV pulled a goal back through Luciano Narsingh before half-time.
The German champions, however, kept their cool and Robert Lewandowski headed in the third goal on the hour. Arjen Robben made sure of the three points, converting an 84th-minute header against his former team.
Atlético Madrid laboured to a 1-0 win over Rostov to maintain their 100% record. The impressive Yannick Carrasco scored the only goal in the second half to hand Rostov their first home defeat in 26 games.