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.
