Serge Aurier now letting his play do the talking after past transgressions

Laurent Blanc was not the only target for Serge Aurier’s scorn during his infamous Periscope rant this February. The Paris Saint-Germain full-back was suspended by his club for a month after describing their then manager as a "faggot" who "takes everything" from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. If those words made the headlines, then Aurier had also aimed some less scandalous mockery at several other team-mates.

He dismissed Gregory van der Wiel as "wetter than water," and goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu as "finished." When one fan told Aurier that he had lost money betting on Paris Saint-Germain, the Ivorian joked that he would give them Edinson Cavani’s address - implying that the striker’s profligacy was to blame.

Not everyone can forgive such missteps.

There are many in Paris who believe that Ligue 1 champions should have cut ties with Aurier over the summer, and especially after he followed up such indiscretion by getting arrested in May for an alleged assault a police officer.

Instead, he stayed at PSG while Blanc, Ibrahimovic, Van der Wiel and Sirigu all moved on. If Aurier still needed to make amends with Cavani, then perhaps one method for doing so might lie on the football pitch.

Tuesday night’s Champions League opener against Arsenal had barely begun when Aurier raced onto a long pass down the right flank and glanced up to see the Uruguayan bursting into the box. His cross was perfection, swerving around Nacho Monreal and onto the head of Cavani at just the right height for him to glance it across goalkeeper David Ospina and into the far corner of the net.

It ought to have been the start of a spectacular evening for PSG. There were barely 42 seconds gone and already the host side was 1-0 up against the apparent chief rival in Group A. No team had ever scored a faster goal against Arsenal in the Champions League.

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Aurier, furthermore, was on fire. His availability for this game had been uncertain after suffering an ankle injury during the defeat to Monaco at the end of August.

But he showed no signs of being hindered in the 40th minute as he navigated his way through a maze of Arsenal players with contemptuous ease, using his pace to surge past Alex Iwobi before shrugging off Monreal with such force that his opponent finished up face-down on the turf. All that was left was for Aurier to take Santi Cazorla out of the picture with a simple release to Marco Verratti.

Moments later, there he was again, oh-so-nearly putting Blaise Matuidi through on goal with a devious ball down the right channel. The second half brought more of the same, Aurier intercepting a Mesut Ozil pass on the edge of his own area one second, exchanging a one-two with Angel Di Maria before seeing his close-range shot saved by Ospina the next.

Only extraordinary wastefulness in front of goal prevented PSG from turning the game into a rout. Cavani, in particular, squandered a series of excellent chances, firing wide of an open goal before falling over as he tried to turn and volley when all alone in the box with only Ospina to beat.

Instead, Arsenal stole a share of the points when Alexis Sanchez drove home an equaliser in the 78th minute. The Gunners had grown into the game towards the end, but scarcely merited such a result on the balance of play.

For PSG, the issue of Cavani’s profligacy is already provoking concern. The Uruguayan has piled up more than 80 goals during his three seasons in Paris, and demonstrated again on Tuesday that he boasts the speed, power and instincts to put himself consistently into excellent scoring positions. Yet a sense remains that he tends to lose his nerve in the games where his team most desperately needs him.

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No such worries exist for Aurier.

Whatever his misdemeanours off the pitch, his performances on it have been excellent. He did, admittedly, score an own goal during the defeat to Monaco, but even then, having set up a Cavani goal on that occasion, too, you could coherently argue that he had been his team’s best player.

At 23 years old, Aurier also has his whole career ahead of him.

He has said in the past that it would be "a dream" to play for Arsenal. For the Gunners, playing against him turned out to be quite the nightmare.