Paris St Germain were hoping that Angel Di Maria would help them reach new heights and the Argentina winger showed on Tuesday he is ready to deliver after a disappointing year in the Premier League.
Di Maria joined PSG during the close season after a below-par, injury-hit campaign at Manchester United following a move from Real Madrid.
In PSG’s Champions League opener at the Parc des Princes, he scored the first goal in a 2-0 win against Malmo and looked more like the man-of-the-match of the 2014 Champions League final than the player who failed to make an impact at United.
“I hear people saying he is here to transform the game of PSG, he’s more here to improve it,” said PSG coach Laurent Blanc.
“He can play on both flanks, he has a lot to give to his team mates and he can also score goals as you saw tonight.
“We can see today that the right flank worked pretty well with him, (fullback Gregory) van der Wiel and (Marco) Verratti.”
Di Maria scored with a fine shot into the top corner after four minutes having collected Verratti’s pass.
“Great players always get along well,” said Blanc and Di Maria echoed his coach’s opinion.
“It’s easy when you play alongside great players, others fear you,” the Argentine said.
“I am very happy, we played the great match we needed to play. We worked well to win the first game of the competition, which is very important.”
After his goal, he continued to shine, setting up Zlatan Ibrahimovic three times.
Yet the Sweden striker, who is still looking for his touch after an injury-ridden start to the season, sent a header over the bar, hit a weak shot at Malmo keeper Johan Wiland, and struck another shot high and wide.
PSG, however, prevailed easily with Edinson Cavani wrapping up the contest shortly after the hour with a header.
“It was important to start with a win, the first game of the Champions League is very important,” the Uruguay striker said.
