Angel Di Maria acknowledged the importance of making a winning start after scoring his first goal for Paris St Germain as they began their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory over Malmo on Tuesday night.
Di Maria, a £44.3million summer signing from Manchester United, gave PSG a fourth-minute lead at the Parc des Princes when he collected a pass on the right wing from Marco Verratti, cut inside into the penalty area and lifted a delightful shot into the top corner.
Edinson Cavani then headed home a second on the hour mark to give the Ligue 1 champions a winning start in Group A - which also includes 10-times European champions Real Madrid.
Di Maria was making only his second start since joining Laurent Blanc's side in August and was pleased to open his account and send Les Parisiens on their way to victory.
"It was important to win tonight. It worked well, it was important to launch this European campaign with a victory," the Argentina international winger told his club's official website.
"Now we will try to continue along this path. Personally I am happy to have scored my first goal."
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was pleased to return to PSG's line-up and face the club where he started his career 16 years ago after overcoming an abdominal injury.
He said: "I had a lot of motivation to the idea of facing my former team of Malmo, where it all started for me.
"I have not been effective in front of goal, but I do not have a lot of game in the legs.
"It's very important to start with a win, because we start in a good position for future meetings."
PSG came into the fixture having dropped their first league points of the season at home against Bordeaux last Friday and Blanc was pleased to get back to winning ways.
"We quickly showed our intentions with Angel scoring first thing in the game," the former France boss said.
"There was more concentration and motivation than during our last league match against Bordeaux.
"It's always difficult to win a Champions League match. So it is good to be able to launch our campaign with a 2-0 win.
"We realise that we can still do better, but this is only the beginning of the season."
Source: PA
