Blanc: Europe starting to take note of PSG

Laurent Blanc believes Paris Saint-Germain’s performances in the UEFA Champions League have made other clubs sit up and take notice.

PSG completed a comprehensive 6-1 last-16 aggregate win over Bayer Leverkusen with a 2-1 home victory on Wednesday.

The French champions have lost just once in Europe this season – their final group game against Benfica having already qualified – and head coach Blanc feels other teams in the last eight will be eager to avoid his charges, who were eliminated only on away goals by Barcelona in the 2012-13 quarter-finals.

“I think the other sides in Europe continue to think more and more of Paris Saint-Germain,” he told the club’s official website.

“We are in the quarter-finals, we have worked very hard to get here and we will keep on working very hard to keep going.

“The club’s objective is to go as far as possible in the UEFA Champions League.”

Yohan Cabaye, who played 90 minutes in Wednesday’s 2-1 win, believes there is still room for improvement, despite PSG’s comfortable progress to the last eight.

“We reached our objective, although not everything was perfect tonight,” said the midfielder.

“We won and now we can turn our attentions to the quarter-finals … we are still in the competition and we have to continue building on this foundation.”