
It was a reunion for Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea as they met in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the third year in succession.

It was PSG which started the brighter with Lucas Moura, the Brazilian midfielder, causing Chelsea's defense problems in the opening exchanges.

Thibaut Courtois, the Chelsea goalkeeper, was forced into an early save by Marco Verratti after the Italian midfielder had unleashed a fierce effort at goal.

The PSG fans were in full voice with their team having lost just one of its past 37 European home games.

Those fans were soon jumping up and down in delight as Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired the home side ahead with a deflected free kick just six minutes before the interval.

Those celebrations were cut short though as Chelsea hit back on the stroke of halftime when Jon Obi Mikel pounced to fire home from close range.

Courtois was the busier goalkeeper in the second half with the home side piling on the pressure.

With the game in the balance, Edinson Cavani, a 74th minute substitute, stole in behind the Chelsea defense and fired home to give his side a 2-1 lead going into the second leg at Stamford Bridge in three weeks time.