Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have been made to settle for a point apiece in their Champions League group-stage encounter at the Parc des Princes after playing out a goalless draw this evening.
The unbeaten rivals remain unbeaten in Group A, having taken seven points from their opening three fixtures, but it is the visitors who will be the happier ahead of the reverse meeting in a fortnight.
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Marcelo came close to making an early breakthrough for the Spanish outfit when sending an effort wide of goal inside the opening five minutes, but the first big moment arrived soon after when Blaise Matuidi forced Keylor Navas into making a save down low.
The contest remained evenly balanced for large parts of the opening quarter, as Thiago Silva and Toni Kroos both saw attempts to edge their respective sides ahead end wide of the target.
Madrid were able to up things slightly with a quarter of the contest played, with Kroos testing Kevin Trapp in goal before Cristiano Ronaldo saw two attempts of his own blocked away by the PSG stopper.
It was the visitors who finished the half very much on top, too, after Ronaldo once more came close to breaching the Parisians' goal with a shot that Trapp again did well to keep out.
PSG's finest chance of the night up to that point arrived five minutes after the restart when Thiago Motta picked out Edinson Cavani, but the forward could not convert the cross inside the box.
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The hosts, who have now made it one home defeat in their last 36 European fixtures, could not really push on from that rare sight of goal, though, and it took until 25 minutes from time before the next moment of note arrived in the French capital.
Angel di Maria, playing against the club he won this competition with two seasons ago, found some space and got a shot on target at the end of the move to test Navas.
That was the Argentina international's last involvement, as a string of changes arrived in the hope of providing some fresh attacking impetus.
There was an inevitable sense that a breakthrough goal would not arrive in Paris when record goalscorer Ronaldo shot wide from an admittedly tight angle after being picked out by Jese, before Lucas Moura tried his luck up the opposite end.
It was Los Blancos who appeared to be happier with the way things were panning out, due to their mini injury crisis that saw them without a few big names, and with no further chances to arrive in the final 10 minutes the two sides remain locked on seven points apiece.
Daniel Lewis
