The 29-year-old left Real Madrid shortly after they lifted the famous trophy in 2013/14, having been named man of the match in the 4-1 final victory over Atletico Madrid. A poor season with Manchester United followed, before the Argentina upped sticks once again and moved to Paris Saint-Germain.

The transfer has already proven a success, with Di Maria helping PSG to win the Ligue 1 title last season, but Tuesday’s victory was undoubtedly their coming of age as a European powerhouse. Di Maria scored two of the four goals put past Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the evening was made all the more sweeter given that both Di Maria and Edinson Cavani – who scored one of the two other goals with Julian Draxler completing the rout – both celebrating their birthdays.

"It's hard to think of a better birthday or a better performance than this," Di Maria told BT Sport.

"Our aim is to reach the final and win the Champions League. We are getting there gradually and moving forward - this was a tough game against one of the best teams in the world, so we did a great job.

"We've been showing this for a few years now. We controlled the game for 90 minutes. It's not easy to control Neymar, (Luis) Suarez and (Lionel) Messi but we managed it.

"We covered so much ground, worked so hard as a team and the most important thing is we got the win and a big step forward.

Both Cavani and Di Maria celebrated their birthdays in style (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

PSG still have to ensure they do a professional job when they travel to Barcelona in three weeks’ time, although the Catalan side will have to make European history if they are to reach the quarter-finals as no team has ever come back to win a tie after suffering a four-goal deficit in the first leg.