PSG vs. Caen: Winners and Losers from Ligue 1 Game
Paris Saint-Germain brushed off their UEFA Champions League exit with a 6-0 thumping of SM Caen at Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The French champions were unable to find the back of the net at Etihad Stadium but did it six times against Patrice Garande’s understrength visitors.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagged a double, while Blaise Matuidi, Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria and Maxwell all bagged one each as PSG eased to victory in the French capital.
Speaking with the club's official website after the match, Les Parisiens' coach Laurent Blanc was pleased with the result and the performance—even if he admitted that it did not make up for the midweek disappointment against City.
"This win doesn’t erase the elimination. It was important to get back to winning ways because we have an exciting end to the season. There are other clubs that would like to be in our position, with the chance to win two Cups, even though it’s not the Champions League. I said to the players that they need to have to desire to play, to score, to make saves, to get back to dominating matches.
"
Here are some winners and losers from PSG's straightforward victory.
Winner: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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This season is now officially the super Swede’s best ever, after his brace took him to 32 goals for the campaign.
The 34-year-old’s tally betters his 2012-13 total of 30 Ligue 1 goals, and the talismanic striker is now in pursuit of the 40 mark.
Although the all-time record of 44 goals—which Josip Skoblar of Olympique de Marseille set back in 1970-71—is unlikely to be bettered by the PSG No. 10, getting as close to 40 as possible is something that will not be bettered anytime soon.
Ibrahimovic even found time to lay on Matuidi’s goal in the rout of Caen.
Loser: Patrice Garande
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With no fewer than six players missing for the trip to Paris, the Caen coach must have been expecting a defeat on Saturday.
However, the 55-year-old was probably not expecting such a thumping from a PSG side that had just been knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City.
Garande kept the likes of Julien Feret and Herve Bazile out of the starting XI and on the bench until the second half.
Had those two been on the pitch and had Caen been a bit luckier with some of their early chances, they could have been level at half-time and such a spanking might not have occurred.
Winner: Presnel Kimpembe
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It would be easy to praise all of the goalscorers, but in truth, while Matuidi was decent, Cavani and Di Maria were disappointing and Maxwell was only on the pitch for 24 minutes—even though he scored.
Deserving of praise was young defender Presnel Kimpembe, who was a rock at the heart of the PSG defence alongside Marquinhos.
The 20-year-old was solid and made a number of important tackles and interceptions, which underlined his potential starting quality with his mature all-round demeanour.
Otherwise, goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu was perhaps deserving of recognition after making two excellent saves in an assured performance.
Loser: Remy Vercoutre
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The Caen goalkeeper had to pick the ball out of his own net more times than he touched the ball in the call of duty.
Remy Vercoutre should have done better with Ibrahimovic’s opener, and conceding such a soft goal helped to rapidly deflate the visitors.
Winner: Benjamin Stambouli
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It was one of the Frenchman’s best displays in a PSG shirt. Picking up where he left off from the 2-0 win away at EA Guingamp last weekend, the 25-year-old was commanding in Thiago Motta’s deep-lying role and got himself involved.
Stambouli made some important passes, tackles and even made a save on the goal line from a goal-bound header to top off a positive afternoon.
Loser: Laurent Blanc
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Although he saw his team win convincingly to prepare themselves for their Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue matches next week, the PSG coach was ultimately a loser.
Had he lined up his team in a similar manner against Manchester city, there is a good chance that the French champions would be in the Champions league semi-finals right now.
As it is, they were knocked out and proved to Le President with their performance that they did not give a good account of themselves over two legs—giving Blanc plenty to regret from the past fortnight.
