By Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip)

French champions Paris Saint-Germain closed out an impressive opening half of the season with a 3-0 win away at SM Caen on Saturday to become the first Ligue 1 club to reach the midway stage of the campaign with 51 points. Two goals from Angel Di Maria and another from Zlatan Ibrahimovic ensured that Laurent Blanc’s men beat Olympique Lyonnais’ record of 50 points from 19 games in the 2006-07 term by a single point at Stade Michel d’Ornano. The Argentina international has had a big influence on PSG’s strong finish to 2015, with two goals and four assists from their last three matches. Di Maria only came on for the final 28 minutes as a substitute in the 1-0 Coupe de la Ligue round of 16 win over AS Saint-Etienne, but the 27-year-old still managed to notch arguably the most spectacular of all four of his assists by setting up Edinson Cavani’s volleyed winner against Les Verts.  The Albiceleste star recorded a hat-trick of assists in the 5-1 Ligue 1 demolition of Lyon just three days before the narrow victory against Christophe Galtier’s men and then signed off for 2015 in style with his two goals in Caen. It has been an excellent start to life with PSG for Di Maria, with six goals and nine assists from 14 Ligue 1 appearances (12 starts) alone. If you extend that to include UEFA Champions League and domestic cup competitions, El Fideo has scored nine goals and provided 11 assists in just 21 outings so far. 

  The £44.3 million summer signing from ailing English giants Manchester United endured a slow beginning; despite a stunning assist for Ezequiel Lavezzi on his debut as a substitute in the 3-0 win away at AS Monaco. Di Maria showed glimpses of his considerable talents with a well-taken goal at home against Malmo FF in the Champions League and two goal-assist performances against EA Guingamp and FC Nantes, but it was not until a 1-0 win away at Stade Rennais in late October that he really started to kick on. The Argentinian scored a superb late volley in a 1-0 win for PSG and since then, he has been extremely impressive. Di Maria’s winner against Rennes was followed by an outstanding display against former club Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu, even if Les Parisiens did ultimately lose the game. A goal at home to Toulouse and then a double away at Malmo sandwiched the November international break. After his brace in Sweden, the former SL Benfica man then went on a binge of assists and laid on seven goals in six appearances across all competitions. Two of those matches, a substitute appearance against Shakhtar Donetsk and a start in a 0-0 draw away at Angers SCO, passed without any contribution.

However, he created two goals in the 4-1 thrashing of ESTAC Troyes, another in a 3-0 win away at OGC Nice, then came his sensational treble in the 5-1 mauling of Lyon and finally another assists against Saint-Etienne. The two goals Di Maria created for Cavani during that run were particularly impressive.  One was a nonchalant first-time chip into the path of the Uruguay international to volley home the opener against Troyes and the other was a sublime lofted through ball over the defence for El Matador to score (with another volley) the only goal in the win over Saint-Etienne. His creative run might have ended in Caen, but PSG’s No. 11 was still decisive with two goals. One of those two was a delightfully impudent lob over Remy Vercoutre in the hosts' goal from close range to make it 3-0 to the French capital outfit. Di Maria’s recent run of six goals and seven assists across all competitions is by far his best run of form in Paris so far and those who initially voiced concern and scepticism at PSG’s signing of the Argentinian are now eating their words. 

 The man from Rosario has proved to worth every bit of the transfer fee the French giants paid Manchester United this summer and Les Parisiens’ patient pursuit of the South American has also been vindicated. PSG’s objective between now and the end of the season must be to continue their utter dominance of the French football scene and to translate their domestic dominance into continental progress as well. With Di Maria in this sort of form, Zlatan Ibrahimovic looking sharper in front of goal than he has done in a long time and the likes of Cavani, Marco Verratti, Lucas Moura and Javier Pastore to back them up, reaching the Champions League semi-finals is a realistic goal. Those dual aims must now be El Fideo and PSG’s goals over the business end of the campaign.