Edinson Cavani Equals Zlatan Ibrahimovic PSG’s Record

Paris Saint-Germain remain 11 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 after disantling Dijon 8-0 at Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

8 — Emery sent out a strong starting XI but rotated in places and got a superb performance in return. The Spaniard’s decision to persevere with Giovani Lo Celso in deep-lying midfield was particularly inspired.
GK Alphonse Areola, 6 — The French shot-stopper was not called into action too often but when he was, he was assured between the sticks.

DF Thomas Meunier, 4 — The Belgium international was disappointing. Whether he was a bit rusty — unlikely, considering that he played against Amiens recently — it was an uncharacteristically off-colour display.

DF Thiago Silva, 6 — The captain was solid at the heart of the defence, even if he and Presnel Kimpembe did not have much to do, and marshalled his back line well.

DF Presnel Kimpembe, 7 — The youth academy graduate outshone Silva with a level-headed performance and a few welcome demonstrations of his underrated technical ability.

DF Yuri Berchiche, 6 — The Spaniard continues to put Layvin Kurzawa under the cosh as they tussle for the starting role in Emery’s XI and the Basque’s assist for Neymar’s third goal will have helped.

MF Giovani Lo Celso, 8 — The Argentina international was very impressive and looks more and more at home in the deep-lying midfield role with every passing match. His assist for Di Maria’s beautiful opener was mouth-watering and he played a significant role in his compatriot’s second of the night, too.

MF Marco Verratti, 6 — The Italian regulated proceedings from midfield but was never required to excel as PSG easily dominated Dijon’s midfield and Lo Celso took the lead from Verratti and Julian Draxler early on.

MF Julian Draxler, 5 — The Germany international was very quiet and although he was not exactly poor when he was on the ball, he did not see that much of it or do anything really constructive with it.

FW Angel Di Maria, 8 — The Argentine has looked reinvigorated since the start of 2018 and added two more goals and an assist to his growing haul. If El Fideo keeps this form up, he could be very important across both legs against Real.

FW Edinson Cavani, 7 — The Uruguay international pulled level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as PSG’s all-time top scorer with 156 goals and even if it has taken the South American longer to get there than the iconic Swede, it is still an impressive feat. El Matador can rightly feel harshly treated by Neymar, who did not need to insist on taking the late penalty that could have been Cavani’s 157th strike for the capital club — it was also earned by the No. 9.

FW Neymar, 10 — Unstoppable. In terms of his play, the Brazil international was pretty much flawless and impossible for Dijon to handle. The man from Mogi das Cruzes hit four goals and added two assists in his first PSG hat trick. However, the 25-year-old lacked maturity with the late penalty because he had the chance to make a gesture that would have strengthened the team’s position and instead chose individual glory.