Zlatan Ibrahimovic Hat Trick Continues Paris Saint-Germain's Run of Good Form

Paris Saint-Germain continued their run of good form against a solid Valenciennes squad on Tuesday. The match featured the two top attacks in Ligue 1, but it was all PSG as the visitors were impressive in a 4-0 romp.

Once again, the star of the show was Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish star bagged three goals taking his Ligue 1 total to 17 for the season. It is easy to look at the stat sheet and focus the attention on Ibrahimovic, but this was perhaps the most complete team effort from PSG this season.

Javier Pastore completed what has been his best week in a long time by looking to attack from the outset. Despite not finding the net, Patstore did test the opposing keeper on more than one occasion with some fine efforts. 

It was eventually the passing ability of the Argentinian that opened up the scoring for PSG. His perfect pass to Jeremy Menez began an exchange that ended with Ibrahimovic directing a Ezequiel Lavezzi shot into the net.

Shortly after halftime, Ibrahimovic was in the right place again as he put home a shot that was spilt by the Valenciennes keeper to make it 2-0. Five minutes later, the rout was on as Lavezzi released Menez who found the cutting Ibra to sweep home the hat trick.

Clement Chantome later found Lavezzi piercing the middle of the defense to finish the scoring with 10 minutes to go. This was the first game all season where PSG's attack saw each of their main players heavily involved. That was a good sign for Carlo Ancelotti as his side looks to gain ground on Lyon in the Ligue 1 table.

The only negative on the evening was an apparent leg injury picked up by Alex. Even if Alex is unable to go for a stretch, PSG should be confident in Mamadou Sakho's ability to pair with Thiago Silva and keep the defense together.

With the game against Valenciennes complete, PSG can take their fine run into this weekend's battle with Lyon. After several weeks of being battered by fans and media over their play, this squad has responded in a big way.