Lucas Moura opened the scoring for Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League bout against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday to remind Arsenal and Manchester United why they should pursue the Brazil international.
Heading into the fixture—at the Parc des Princes—the top two spots in Group A were already settled, with Real Madrid confirming their progression as group leaders and Paris Saint-Germain establishing themselves as the ‘best of the rest’ with ten points after five matches.
All that Shakhtar had to play for was a spot in the Europa League, and to guarantee this they needed just to equal or better Malmo’s result at the Bernabeu, although the speed at which the Merengues dissected their Swedish visitors in the concurrent fixture meant that any potential sting and competitiveness was rather taken out of this one.
Knowing his side could do nothing about their finishing position in the group, Laurent Blanc opted to shuffle his pack, including the likes of Marquinhos, Gregory van der Wiel, Benjamin Stambouli, Adrien Rabiot and Ezequiel Lavezzi from the start.
Lucas Moura was also given the nod, making his first start in the competition after four previous substitute appearances.
The Brazil forward served a fine reminder of his class by bagging the opener on 57 minutes when he was played in by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and finished calmly past Anton Kanibolotskiy.
SEE MORE:
Barcelona to rival Liverpool, Tottenham for striking superstar
Liverpool and Tottenham transfer target opens £2.5m-per-year contract talks
£20m International stopper responds to Liverpool transfer talk; wants Champions League football
According to Fichajes [via the Mirror], Manchester United are understood to be keen on a move for Lucas, while Foot Sur 7 [also via the Mirror] note that both Arsenal and Liverpool are also keeping tabs on the Selecao star.
The Mirror state that Moura is valued at around £21.5 million, which, if his showing against Shakhtar is anything to go by, could be a bargain