Paris Saint-Germain made to work for three points against Evian

THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images

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David Luiz and Marco Verratti scored their first goals for Paris Saint-Germain as the Ligue 1 champions beat struggling Evian 4-2.

Despite trailing to an early goal from Cedric Barbosa, the hosts hit back through Luiz and Veratti to ensure PSG held the half-time advantage.

Evian levelled things up once more thanks to an own goal from Gregory van der Wiel, but Javier Pastore restored the capital club's lead before a late strike from Edison Cavani put the result beyond doubt.

Laurent Blanc's side were looking for an instant response having suffered a heavy defeat at Bastia last time out but their misery looked to continue when the visitors raced into an early lead.

Cedric Barbosa benfitted from some loose play by Zlatan Ibrahimovic before lifting the ball over Thiago Motta and dispatching a stunning effort beyond Salvatore Sirigu from distance to prompt a chorus of boos from the disappointed Parc des Princes.

Seemingly undeterred, though, PSG hit back and only some smart goalkeeping from Benjamin Leroy denied Luiz following some good work from fellow Brazilian Lucas Moura.

And Leroy was proving a tough nut to crack when, moments later, he miraculously kept out a close range effort from Ibrahimovic after Pastore and Blaise Matuidi combined to tee him up.

However, Evian's young stopper was picking the ball out of his own net at the half-hour stage when Luiz beat Barbosa to Pastore's corner and nodded beyond Leroy to level the scores.

A first-half turnaround was complete eight minutes later when Ibrahimovic saw an effort blocked by Youssouf Sabaly but the ball broke for Verrati to power a half-volley beyond Leroy to give PSG a goal advantage at the break.

Looking to close the gap on league-leaders Lyon, PSG seemed happy to protect their lead after the restart but, once again, their frailties at the back came back to haunt them as Evian levelled.

Daniel Wass swung a dangerous free-kick into the area and, under little pressure, defender Van der Wiel inadvertently headed beyond his own keeper.

But Blanc's team were only level for little under 10 minutes when Ibrahimovic and Lucas combined before picking out Pastore, who needed no second invitation, finishing with aplomb from 12 yards.

And all three points were wrapped up with less than a minute of normal time to play when Van der Viel made amends for his earlier error by picking out Ibrahimovic, who grabbed his first assist of the season in teeing up substitute Cavani to make it 4-2.