Ibrahimovic Return to Form

            An interesting game for Paris Saint-Germain took place tonight, with a 2-0 victory against FC Nantes marking the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic after his three game suspension. With an exciting and fun to watch first half shifting to a lengthy and uneventful second half, PSG takes the lead of the French Ligue 1 once again. Also continuing was Matuidi’s top form, scoring a crucial goal just moments after taking a hit from Papy Mison Djilobodji. He kept the intensity up the entire time he was out on the field, and it decreased undoubtedly due to his substitution just after the half.  Cavani scored the other goal of the night, and his performance played out as usual. He scored a goal early, but then continued on to miss plenty more opportunities later in the game. Cavani’s performance of late has just not been acceptable, especially with Ibrahimovic coming back into the equation, and for his and the team’s sake, he can’t rely on scoring an easy opportunity and then not really caring much.

            As for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his return, there is some good and some bad to be said. First, he was deeply involved in both goals scored, creating space and then making important plays to set up his teammates. It is good to see that he at least still has the form that he left with and is expected of him. On the other hand, we will have to see how he fits back in with his teammates that have grown accustomed to him on the sidelines. While he was effective in creating opportunities with his team and they worked together to score twice, there were some instances where it looked as if there may be some tensions. One of these times was where Cavani was denied a goal when he could have passed to an open Ibrahimovic. At this, Zlatan got after his teammate, criticizing him for going to goal. Later, Ibrahimovic was guilty of the same thing, selfishly looking to score when Pastore was definitely a more viable option. While his actual form and ability to play the game has not diminished, it will be interesting to see how Zlatan integrates into the form that the rest of his team has settled in during his absence. Either way, the victory was important and well deserved for the French team and I have to think that Ibrahimovic’s return will be beneficial for the most part.