Champions League: Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc lauded
Angel Di Maria and the rest of his players despite losing 1-0 to Real
Madrid on Tuesday.
Laurent Blanc singled out Angel
Di Maria for praise after
Paris Saint-Germain pushed Real Madrid all the
way in
Tuesday's 1-0 Champions League defeat.
PSG
were the better side prior to Nacho's 35th-minute goal and continued to
threaten thereafter, but failed to force a deserved equaliser in the
Group A clash.
Di Maria had the best two chances
of the second half for PSG, forcing a one-on-one save from Keylor Navas
just after half-time before hitting the crossbar with a free-kick late
on.
Blanc lauded the Argentina midfielder " who
signed from Manchester United for an estimated 63million at the start of
the season " for upping his game against his former club.
"Just
like the rest of the team, Angel dramatically raised his performance
level compared to recent matches," the coach told reporters at the
Santiago Bernabeu.
"That result shows how football
can turn out sometimes. But I think in a game like that " even if we
didn't get the points we came for " we have to see the positives.
"After
the first leg [which was drawn 0-0 at Parc des Princes a fortnight
ago], some people said that we are not able to compete with the tempo of
Real, but we showed that we can endanger any team tonight.
"Compared
to our last game against Madrid, our offensive movement was much better
Real Madrid didn't come close to walking all over us.
"We have to build on this; it bodes well for the future. I'm pretty satisfied on the balance of both games against Madrid."
PSG,
who have a 10-point lead in Ligue 1 already, have a four point cushion
in second spot in the group and look primed to join Madrid in the last
16.
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