PSG crack under pressure at Schalke

Cruel luck
Defender Mabiala diverted Levan Kobiashvili's cross past Mickaël Landreau in the PSG goal after 12 minutes, by which time the hosts had already created several chances. Kevin Kuranyi and Halil Altıntop also scored for the Bundesliga club either side of half-time, with the visitors from France having the sole consolation of Clément Chantôme's 92nd-minute strike.

Kežman resistance
The German team dominated from the start. Rafinha's dangerous cross into the PSG area narrowly evaded both Kuranyi and Marcelo Bordon, before Jermaine Jones headed wide of the left-hand post. Once Mabiala's slice of misfortune had left his side playing catch-up, Mateja Kežman led the PSG resistance – testing Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer with a 23rd-minute effort, then capitalising on Heiko Westermann's error to get in behind the home defence but shoot wide.

Doubling up
However, those were rare moments of relief for PSG who went 2-0 down six minutes before the interval. Jefferson Farfán's left-wing centre picked out Germany forward Kuranyi who controlled the ball before hammering it into the top corner. If Paul Le Guen's men returned from the interval looking more spirited, they came up against an obdurate Schalke rearguard and Neuer gathered their only shot of note from Loris Arnaud.

Game over
Schalke eventually put an end to the contest on 70 minutes. Altıntop passed to Kuranyi, then collected his back-heeled return before slotting past Landreau. The keeper spared PSG further indignity, blocking late attempts from Farfán and Altıntop, while in truth the added-time strike from Chantôme – directed through Neuer's legs – represented scant consolation for the Ligue 1 outfit.