Javier Pastore Benefits from Adaptation and Zlatan Ibrahimovic Absence at PSG

Javier Pastore’s ninth-minute opening goal for Paris Saint-Germain in Friday’s 3-2 win away at FC Metz was confirmation of the excellent start to the season that he has enjoyed. Despite being a key player for the French champions since the beginning of the campaign, he did not have the numbers—in terms of goals and assists—to back up all of that claim.

The Argentine playmaker does now.

Stealing the ball off Les Grenats’ defender Jeremy Choplin, Pastore then went shoulder-to-shoulder with Metz’s Guido Milan before jinking away from his compatriot and dinking the ball over the onrushing Johann Carrasso despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s best efforts to get there first and score.

As recently as the beginning of this season, anybody familiar with PSG and the South American’s style of play would have called it a very “un-Pastore-like” goal. However, the finish is an example that backs up recent claims that Les Parisiens’ No. 27 is a player reborn.

Physical confrontation was previously not Pastore’s forte.

On Friday he was battered by the Metz players whenever he got the ball, but now the waifish playmaker stood his ground, brushed himself off and was still able to perform a sensational rainbow flick late on to bamboozle the hosts’ beleaguered defence.

"

Javier Pastore just did this rainbow flick, class!  http://t.co/Menwh2F6KN

— Football Vines (@FootballVines) November 21, 2014"

Had that happened last season or anytime in the past, Pastore would have shied away from any physicality, and a rough challenge would often put him out of the game. Now, the former Palermo man throws himself fully into challenges and is fully committed on the pitch.

Another example of that full-blooded nature that he has developed this season is his role in the buildup to Yohan Cabaye’s equaliser in the 3-1 win over RC Lens at the Stade de France.

Pastore did not give up on what many would have deemed a lost cause, chasing the ball and sliding to keep it in play. The 25-year-old’s telling contribution enabled Maxwell to cross, and Cabaye finished it off with a crisp, low shot.

David Vincent/Associated Press

This new all-action Pastore is a recent development, but the change in style that began at the start of this season accelerated thanks to the absence of the injured Ibrahimovic.

Without the super Swede, El Flaco came to the fore and was often played in his favoured No. 10 role behind Edinson Cavani and often Lucas Moura as well. The effect was that Pastore became far more involved in games, and even when he was not scoring goals or providing the decisive passes for goals, he was at least regularly key to those moves.

Ibrahimovic’s return on Friday threatened to diminish Pastore’s role somewhat, but the Argentine has shown that he is now ready to rise to the challenge after building up his confidence while his teammate has been away.

Looking at his goal again further demonstrates his change in character and that flowing self-belief.

In the past, Pastore would have left the ball once he saw that Ibrahimovic was steaming toward it, but this time he did not give it up. As well as riding the challenge of Metz goalkeeper Carrasso, Pastore also risked colliding with Zlatan but would not let it deter him from getting his foot to the ball and finishing his chance.

His confidence is such that he dared to beat the PSG No. 10 to the ball, which can perhaps be interpreted as a message for Ibrahimovic: The playmaker as well as the rest of their teammates will no longer always look to play for their talismanic striker.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

The Swede likes to drop deep into Pastore’s favoured role, but his presence in the starting XI normally means that the Argentine is deployed out wide in a three-man attack. PSG’s No. 27 has shown that he is ready to embrace whichever role he is given by applying himself fully and showing the same commitment that has been evident since the start of the season.

This makes him more effective on the pitch, more decisive and less likely to always look for Ibrahimovic at every opportunity in front of goal.

Of all the players who benefited from Zlatan’s absence, it was perhaps Pastore who profited more than anyone. That period without PSG’s talisman helped the South American mature, and now he is ready to be deployed with his teammate again in his new form.

Pastore’s performance against Metz on Friday was a taste of things to come.