Edinson Cavani scored twice and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was also on target as Paris Saint-Germain beat Ajax 3-1 at the Parc des Princes in Champions League Group F on Tuesday.

Cavani’s first-half opener was cancelled out by Davy Klaassen midway through the second half as Ajax looked set to leave the French capital with a point, but Ibrahimovic scored his first goal for the club in nearly three months to put the hosts back in front in the 79th minute.

And Cavani then made sure of the victory as PSG moved a step closer to their objective of advancing to the last 16 as group winners, the result allowing them to maintain a one-point lead over Barcelona with a trip to the Camp Nou still to come next month.

Barcelona won 4-0 away to APOEL in Cyprus in the night’s other game, and with both sides already through to the last 16 before this round of matches, the French champions now know that a draw in Spain next month will see them progress in first place.

The statistics make for impressive reading for Laurent Blanc’s side, who have now won eight games in a row in all competitions and remain unbeaten this season, a status shared only with Chelsea in Europe’s leading leagues.

PSG are also now undefeated in 32 European outings at the Parc des Princes, a record that stretches back over eight years, although Ajax could count themselves a little unlucky to return to Amsterdam with nothing to show for their efforts.

“I think we came up against a team that played better football than us but were not that dangerous at the end of the day. The more clinical and dangerous team was PSG,” said Blanc.

The Dutch champions, with only one player aged over 25 in their starting line-up, played the better football for spells but, having already been eliminated before this game, now face a home match with APOEL in two weeks hoping to secure the consolation of a place in the Europa League in the new year.

And coach Frank de Boer, who lost captain Nicolai Boilesen to a serious-looking injury after just 10 minutes, cut a frustrated figure with the way his side defended.

“In the first half we committed too many fouls and made too many elementary mistakes,” he said. “In the second half we deserved our equaliser when it came but the second and third goals (for PSG) were stupid.”