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SuÃ¡rez at the double as Barcelona beat Paris

15 April 2015 22:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Luis Suárez scored two second-half goals to leave FC Barcelona well set for a seventh UEFA Champions Leaguesemi-final in eight years, APA reports quoting uefa.com.

Paris were unbeaten in 24 home matches going into the first leg but that record was decimated here. Barcelona were leading through Neymar's early strike, when Luis Suárez took the headlines with two goals in 12 second-half minutes setting up a 3-1 win.

The first came from the right as he cut into the box, nutmegging David Luiz as he did so, then outmuscled Maxwell before firing inside the near post. With 11 minutes to go he struck again, playing a one-two with Javier Mascherano, once more slipping the ball between David Luiz's legs before a sumptuous finish into the top corner. Jérémy Mathieu's own goal did little to take the gloss off it.

Laurent Blanc spoke on the eve of the game about using September's 3-2 victory over Barcelona – the first of what is now three meetings between the sides this season – as the benchmark but it was soon apparent that the visitors possessed a very different blueprint. Messi had already served warning, swivelling on the edge of the box and bending a shot past the back-tracking Maxwell and onto the post, when they forged ahead on 18 minutes.

The move started innocuously enough, with Sergio Busquets catching Adrien Rabiot in possession tight to the touchline near the halfway. Barcelona's transition from defence to attack was seamless. Busquets fed Messi, who hustled and bustled before placing the ball in the path of Neymar. The Brazilian, with Gregory van der Wiel trailing in his wake, coolly slotted in under Salvatore Sirigu.

It was not what Blanc wished to see, nor was the sight before the restart of Thiago Silva joining him on the bench with a knock. With Zlatan IbrahimoviÄ‡ among three suspended for Paris, it was the last thing the hosts needed; on came David Luiz, a huge doubt before the game with a hamstring problem.

All was not lost, though. The lively Blaise Matuidi had carved out a decent early chance that Javier Pastore fluffed. The France midfielder was also the instigator around the half-hour as he broke, sending Ezequiel Lavezzi scurrying down the left. For a moment PSG looked to have men over but Edinson Cavani could not profit, Mascherano timing his tackle to perfection.

Paris had been here before. They trailed Chelsea FC three times in the last 16 but still went through. Javier Pastore and Adrien Rabiot tested Marc-André ter Stegen as the second half go under way but an uphill struggle became treacherous when Suárez waltzed in to make it 2-0.

The Uruguayan's second of the night left Paris with a mountain to climb but they are at least clinging on after Van der Wiel's speculative shot took a wicked deflection off substitute Mathieu and ballooned in.