Edinson Cavani struck an 86th-minute winner to help Paris Saint-Germain beat a spirited APOEL side 1-0 and stay top of Group F in the Champions League tonight.

The Cypriot hosts produced a solid defensive display and looked on course to secure a point at the bare minimum after regularly thwarting the visitors' forward line.

However, Cavani pounced with four minutes remaining to snatch all three points for Laurent Blanc's side, who stay one point ahead of Barcelona in the race for first place in the group.

Below, Sports Mole whips out its magnifying glass and takes a closer look at what seemed a robbery in Nicosia.

Match statistics

APOEL
Shots: 7
On target: 1
Possession: 39%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 7

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
Shots: 13
On target: 5
Possession: 61%
Corners: 6
Fouls: 9

Was the result fair?

In a word, no. Laurent Blanc's side rewrote the definition of a 'smash and grab' in Nicosia tonight by snatching a point away from the hosts and rendering their Herculean defensive effort meaningless.

With their abundance of quality, this ending was always a possibility and APOEL perhaps deserve some criticism for the manner in which the winner was scored, but nobody could have begrudged the battling Cypriots a reward for their labour this evening.

APOEL's performance

Giorgos Donis's side might win fans for what will go down as a moral victory in the eyes of the neutral, but they won't win many games in Europe due to a lack of cutting edge that has cost them dearly tonight.

Despite stacking 11 men behind the ball while out of possession, APOEL showed plenty of guts and quality in possession as a number of swift counter-attacks troubled what looked a formidable back four on paper - Gregory van der Wiel, Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Maxwell - but nobody was available to finish off their attacks.

Their second-half display was particularly impressive, as the hosts maintained that defensive solidity left over from the first half but also looked far more of a threat going forward.

It's a cruel game, but the pain they will be experiencing now could perhaps be viewed as self-inflicted.

Paris Saint-Germain's performance

The French champions came up against a resolute defensive unit but they still had more than enough quality out there to threaten more than they did.

Blanc had expressed an ambition to lead les Parisiens to Champions League glory prior to kickoff, a goal that he might be forced to reassess on the evidence of that performance.

They looked one-dimensional for the vast majority of the game and continued to concede goal kicks with a number of optimistic over-the-top balls that target-man Cavani generously applauded. The lack of creativity should worry Blanc on the flight home to Paris.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Carlao: The Brazilian centre-half was outstanding for APOEL tonight and produced a 'thou shall not pass' performance if ever there was one. Incidentally, it was Carlao that looked most hurt by Cavani's winner because he knew that his exertions over the course of 86 minutes had just gone to waste. Not many - if any - APOEL players deserved to be on the losing side, but Carlao can feel especially aggrieved.

Biggest gaffe

You can imagine that the APOEL dressing room is a quiet place at the moment, but Tiago Gomes might have a better reason than most of his teammates to remain muted. On 57 minutes, Gomes must have thought he scored; he headed Gustavo Manduca's cross past goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, but David Luiz managed to head off the line.

It was the chance of the game, and one that Gomes could, and should, have taken but there was not enough pace on his initial header, allowing Luiz to clear the ball. It's a game of fine margins and things could have been so different had the Portuguese buried that header.

Referee performance

Ovidiu Hategan of Romania was afforded the luxury of a very quiet game this evening; he had no major decisions to make and kept his cards in his pocket throughout the night.

What next?

APOEL: The league leaders in the Cypriot top flight will look to extend their six-game unbeaten run with a visit to Doxa Katokopia on Saturday.

Paris Saint-Germain: PSG now fly back to France and prepare for a Ligue 1 clash with Bordeaux at Parc de Princes on Saturday evening.