Paris St Germain see off Shakhtar Donetsk but Zlatan Ibrahimovic denied record
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was frustrated in his attempt to overhaul Paris St Germain's all-time goalscoring record as a late strike was officially recorded as an own goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was frustrated in his attempts to overhaul Paris St Germain's all-time goalscoring record as a late strike was officially recorded as an own goal.
Ibrahimovic thought he had scored his 108th goal for PSG, equalled Pauleta's record, and sealed a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in one fell toe poke, but his shot deflected off Darijo Srna and UEFA awarded the goal to Shakhtar's captain.
It was almost the perfect end to a comfortable evening for PSG, with Serge Aurier the other, less likely catalyst in PSG's win as he scored one and assisted another in a blistering first-half.
Aurier, a late replacement for the injured Gregory van der Wiel, powered forward from right-back in the eighth minute to head Maxwell's deep cross past Andriy Pyatov for his first Champions League goal.
The Ivorian turned provider 15 minutes later, his flicked near-post header off Angel Di Maria's corner ricocheting into David Luiz's thigh and over the hapless Pyatov.
PSG, with the sturdy base of Thiago Motta and energy of Marco Verratti, appeared a class above Shakhtar for the first hour as the Ukrainians struggled to recover defensively after Aurier's early salvo.
Yaroslav Rakitskiy went close with a volley from a corner for Shakhtar, setting the tone for a flurry of spurned opportunities from Srna, Oleksandr Kucher and Oleksandr Gladkiy.
Shakhtar manager Mircea Lucescu responded by sending on Bernard, another highly-rated Brazilian, but for all his attacking verve, the Ukrainian side only sporadically tested PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp despite finding some late attacking rhythm.
Another substitute, Viktor Kovalenko, came closest when he hit the crossbar after good work from Gladkiy. Di Maria capped off an ignominious night when he miscued a cross with the outside of his boot before he was replaced by compatriot Javier Pastore.
It was Pastore who provided the pin-point pass for Ibrahimovic's nearly moment, but he will have to wait until Sunday - and the small matter of a Classique against Marseille - to make history.
