PARIS, Nov 27: Paris Saint Germain, reduced to 10 men for an hour, beat Portugal’s Boavista 2-1 at the Parc des Princes Tuesday in the UEFA Cup third round, first leg.

The capital city side, sixth in the French league and just about within reach of the leading group, had a morale-boosting win with the second leg in two weeks’ time.

The opening spell on a cold night was a midfield battle in which Boavista slightly had the upper hand.

However it was PSG who opened the scoring in the 17th minute. From a long free kick from the left by Andre Luiz, Ghanaian Alex Nyarko, positioned on the edge of the area, got the ball and ran away from his marker Cafu, before shooting a fierce left foot shot past Boavista keeper Ricardo for his first goal for the club.

After that, PSG were being overwhelmed and were even down to 10 men in the

32nd minute after Frederic Dehu had received two yellow cards within a three-minute

spell for two undisciplined challenges.

Although Luis Fernandez’ team were down a man, PSG doubled their score just before the break thanks to a right-footed sidefoot from Fabrice Fiorese, well served by a pinpoint accurate long pass from Nyarko.

Claudio scored with a quarter-hour to go with a header for a valuable away goal but Boavista were not able to add to their score for the equalizer.

Results of UEFA Cup third round, first leg matches played Tuesday:

Paris St Germain 2 Boavista 1

Hertha Berlin 2 Fulham 1