Comparing Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 2014/15 Stats to His 2015/16 Numbers

For the last three seasons, Paris Saint-Germain have faced Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League round of 16. Defeat the first year has been rectified with two victories, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic the architect behind the latest win.

He set up Adrien Rabiot for the opener and sealed the 2-1 result on the night with a back-post finish, ensuring their progression to the quarter-finals with a 4-2 aggregate victory.

His commanding performance was in stark contrast to last season, when his red card in the second leg of the round of 16 ended his chances of making a telling impact—and although PSG qualified for the quarter-finals, the Swede limped out of the competition against Barcelona in the next round.

This is the first time beyond the group stages that Ibrahimovic has made a significant contribution for PSG, especially compared to last season. All of this stems from his improved league campaign—when dissecting his season, there are two sides to Zlatan’s story, comparing this season to last has to be broken down into Ligue 1 and the Champions League.

Last season, as PSG came back to win the Ligue 1 title, Ibrahimovic made just 24 appearances. Injuries at the beginning of the campaign and a suspension at the end hampered his performances. It never fully looked like he was 100 per cent fit.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Too often he was rushed back onto the pitch, stopping the talisman from finding top form. With nine weeks left this season, he has already played 23 times in the league, including a stretch of 13 straight games—something that looked beyond him 12 months ago.

He only needs to play 152 more minutes to overtake his total from the 2014/15 campaign, and that increase in minutes on the pitch has led to a massive improvement in his numbers.

The 34-year-old is averaging a goal per league game, but there has also been an increase in his goals from open play. Eight of his 19 goals last term were from the penalty spot, but this season, that has dropped to five of his 23 strikes.

Although he hasn’t quite hit the heights of his 10-goal Champions League haul from 2014, his four goals this campaign is an improvement from only scoring twice last year—especially when both goals meant very little to their participation in the competition.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Strikes against his old side Malmo and Shakhtar Donetsk in the final group game set up PSG for the knockout stage. Then the forward stepped up another gear, opening the scoring in the first leg against Chelsea before supplying the killer blow at Stamford Bridge in the second.

Laurent Blanc told reporters in his post-match press conference following the latest win over Chelsea:

"

Zlatan played a match in keeping with what he’s done this season. 

You always have doubts because it’s Ligue 1. That’s the truth. You ask if he can play like that in the Champions League. He gave his response tonight.

He has important qualities for us. He moves the two centre-backs around in the opposing team.

"

It’s no surprise that his increase in goals has come from the former Barcelona man taking more shots. His average has gone up from 3.6 per league game last season to 4.4—he took 87 shots in the whole of the Ligue 1 campaign last year, he has already topped that with 102 during this season's fixtures.

When he is at his best, Ibrahimovic is as good on the creative side of the game as he is in front of goal. His six assists last season were down on his previous numbers, but now his eye for goal has again translated into goals for his team-mates.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

“Technically he sees things very quickly,” continued Blanc. “When he drops deep—which we ask him to do—he helps put our game in place. He played a great match like lots of PSG players tonight, like pretty much the whole team."

It won’t give him confidence, as he already has huge confidence in himself, but a goal and an assist will do him well, and the coach and the club get the benefit.

His key passes per league game have slighted dropped from 1.5 to 1.4, which is not enough to make a difference, but his distribution has been key, increasing from six league assists to 10 this term—one short of his 2013/14 tally.

Ibrahimovic has also seen more of the ball this season. Upping his average passes per league game from 41.1 to 45.1—to signal his increased importance in the Champions League, his average is up again to 50.5, which is a huge jump from his average last season of 35.

It’s interesting that although he is seeing more of the ball on the European stage, he is not able to get off as many shots on goal. Obviously, the increased level of competition leads to his team-mates handing him the ball more, but with his shots per game going from 4.4 in the league to 4.0 per European game, he was never going to score as many goals.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

If PSG are to stand any chance of progressing past the quarter-finals—regardless of who they are drawn against—they will need Ibrahimovic’s performances to continue at this level and for more of those shots to turn into goals.

It’s a simple equation. Give a fully-fit Zlatan more of the ball and things will undoubtedly happen.

According to WhoScored, the 34-year-old has never been as inspiring or critical as he has this season. In all of his four campaigns at the club, his average performance score has never been higher. Going from 7.82 in his first year, unsurprisingly down to 7.73 12 months ago, but up to a whopping 8.07 since August.

It's amazing that in his fourth year, despite being 34-years-old, his influence has grown even stronger—which makes his next decision even tougher. With his contract up in the summer, there is doubt over whether or not he will continue the twilight years of his career in Paris.

No one else in the PSG attack can command the same respect as the Swede. Edinson Cavani has faded, and although he can still find the back of the net, too often he has shown that he is not the player to lead this team forward next season.

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

Zlatan’s future is still undecided, but one man who would know first has revealed that decisions have been made.

"We know what we want but we will not say anything until the summer when the season is over," the player’s agent Mino Raiola told Swedish newspaper Expressen (h/t the Independent). "But we are clear now what we want to happen."

Any doubts about his ability have been cast aside this season. Twelve months ago, the thoughts of a new contract for Ibrahimovic seemed the wrong move for PSG, but now, a season without his influence would leave a huge gap for the Parisians to fill.

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com