Zlatan leads PSG thrashing of Caen
PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paris Saint Germain ripped Ligue 1 rivals Caen to pieces in a 6-0 thrashing at the Parc des Princes on Saturday, sending the champions 30 points clear at the top.
The result follows PSG’s disappointing 3-2 aggregate Champions League quarter-final defeat to Manchester City, and backs up some theories to why they failed to make the semis again.
On the day Paris won this season’s Ligue 1 title it was with a 9-0 victory over bottom club Troyes, and there have been other five goal romps even as PSG rotate their squad amid theories their continental failure stems from a lack of competition to the Qatari bankrolled supers quad.
Ibrahimovic scored twice, both emphatic finishes, taking his tally to 32 league goals this season to equal his previous best, while Argentine playmaker Angel di Maria, so ineffective against City, netted with a sumptuous lob.
Other goals came from the returning Blaise Matuidi, banned for the City game, a typically marauding Edinson Cavani run and shot made it five and defender Maxwell turned home a Cavani cross for 6-0.
Coach Laurent Blanc conceded that the rout “doesn’t cancel out” the massive disappointment felt by PSG of their Champions League exit.
“This win doesn’t cancel out anything, it doesn’t allow us to progress to the Champions League semi-finals,” he said.
“But this win enabled us to regain our smile, for as you can imagine it’s been four days now that we haven’t done a lot of smiling.”
Blanc had made a string of changes, but Caen, who went into the game ninth in Ligue 1, were simply blown off the park.
If the stands featured uncomfortable gaps and some early whistling may have embarrassed the home side, they must now turn their attentions to the French Cup semi-final with Lorient on Tuesday and the League Cup final against resurgent Lille next Saturday at the Stade de France.
Lorient tuned up for their date with PSG with a 1-1 draw at home to Toulouse, while Lille won 4-2 at relegation-threatened Gazelec Ajaccio, with Sofiane Boufal bagging a hat-trick.
Saint-Etienne boosted their hopes of a Europa League place next season with a 1-0 win at Bastia to move them into fifth, level on points with Nice.
Elsewhere, Angers beat Bordeaux 3-1, and already relegated Troyes saw off Reims 2-1 for only their third win of the campaign.
On Friday Alexandre Lacazette grabbed a late equaliser as 10man Lyon salvaged a 1-1 draw in the chase for second place in Ligue 1 in a match stopped to clear up a snowstorm of ripped up newspapers.
Nice took an 18th-minute lead after Valere Germain beat a Lyon offside trap, while Lacazette prodded home in the 82nd minute after Mathieu Valbuena had hit the bar as the sides struggle to claim Ligue 1’s second automatic Champions League berth. - AFP