Ranking PSG's Top 5 Players for April 2016

April was a mixed month for Paris Saint-Germain. Although Laurent Blanc’s men swept all before them domestically, winning a third consecutive Coupe de la Ligue title and booking a second straight Coupe de France final, they crashed out of the UEFA Champions League over two legs to Manchester City.

Les Parisiens arguably should have eliminated Manuel Pellegrini’s team, but they failed to show up for either leg of their quarter-final clash, so they slipped out in the last eight for the fourth season running.

The French champions played eight matches in April, four in Ligue 1, two in the Champions League, one in the Coupe de la Ligue and the other in the Coupe de France.

PSG managed to score 21 times over those eight fixtures, conceding just five, yet they still managed to exit the continental stage—arguably where their wealthy Qatari owners’ main ambitions lie—so the month will ultimately be viewed as a failure by the capital club’s paymasters.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was once again the star man for Blanc’s side, continuing his insatiable form from March.

The super Swede was head and shoulders above his teammates, and there was no other real contender for being PSG’s top-ranked player for April, although Salvatore Sirigu was excellent in the three matches he was granted by Blanc.

Here is a breakdown of Ibrahimovic and Les Parisiens’ four other top performers’ efforts during the month of April.

5. Edinson Cavani

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With two goals and two assists from five starts and two brief substitute appearances across all competitions, PSG got quite a balanced contribution from Edinson Cavani in April.

Although the Uruguay international did not produce any truly outstanding displays, he still put in two showings where he scored and set up another.

El Matador made it 3-0 to PSG in their 6-0 thrashing of Caen early in the second half and would later provide Maxwell with the sixth at Parc des Princes.

Cavani repeated the same combination in the Ligue 1 giants’ 4-0 rout of Rennes later in the month, assisting the veteran Brazilian with the opener before completing the scoring with a fine finish from a Marco Verratti pass.

The South American worked hard in each of his performances and showed off an understated part of his game by setting Maxwell up twice, but the 29-year-old—like the rest of his teammates—let himself down when it mattered most in the Champions League and went missing.

4. Javier Pastore

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Although he only featured in four of the eight matches played by PSG in April, Javier Pastore’s return to action was a big boost for Blanc’s men.

The Argentina international made two starts and came on as a substitute twice across all competitions. In those outings, El Flaco produced a goal—one of two fortuitous strikes in the Coupe de la Ligue final win over Lille OSC—and an assist.

It might not sound like much, but that contribution from Pastore was an important one. He was arguably the best PSG player at Stade de France against Les Dogues and was pretty much the only one performing in the first half of the win over Rennes, where he notched his assist.

If the 26-year-old can keep this form up until the end of the campaign, it should buoy him until the start of pre-season training, and he can get some valuable conditioning in to avoid a repeat of this term’s hellish injury problems.

3. Maxwell

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Despite his age, Maxwell, 34, is still one of PSG’s most consistent performers—particularly on the domestic front.

With his time at Parc des Princes apparently coming to an end, the veteran Brazilian is seemingly intent on going out with a bang by putting in some strong displays in April.

Maxwell scored twice in five starts and one substitute appearance, profiting from unselfish play from Edinson Cavani to score against Caen and Rennes. The latter strike was a particularly stunning effort and was arguably one of the dependable left-back's finest goals scored during in his time in Paris.

Although Layvin Kurzawa is clearly ready to take over for the South American now, there is arguably still a role for the Brazilian to play as the France international’s mentor and a strong and reliable backup option.

PSG have a tough decision to make over whether or not they should offer to prolong the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Ajax man’s stay by another 12 months.

2. Marquinhos

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April was an excellent month for defender Marquinhos, who featured in seven of PSG’s eight fixtures and had seemingly usurped David Luiz in Blanc’s starting XI by the end of it.

The Brazil international made seven starting appearances across all competitions and helped to keep four clean sheets.

Marquinhos was particularly impressive as Les Parisiens won 2-0 away at Guingamp, 6-0 at home to Caen, 1-0 away at Lorient and 4-0 at home to Rennes.

The 21-year-old’s future is the subject of intense speculation heading into the summer. There is a feeling that he is just being given starts toward the end of the season to keep him happy, only for Luiz to regain his place alongside captain Thiago Silva next campaign.

However, if Marquinhos continues to perform with this much maturity, then Blanc might be left with little choice but to start him alongside Silva instead.

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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As has often been the case in most months this season, Ibrahimovic was once again the most decisive player for PSG.

The Sweden international looks set to depart the Parc des Princes at the end of the campaign, and if he does so, then he'll go out with a bang—domestically, at least.

Zlatan scored nine times and provided two assists in seven appearances across all competitions, only missing the 2-0 win away at Guingamp.

The 34-year-old scored one hat-trick and two braces in Ligue 1, and he added strikes in the Champions League and the Coupe de France.

With three games left in Le Championnat and 34 goals to his name, Ibrahimovic finds himself 10 behind the all-time record tally of 44 scored by Olympique de Marseille’s Josip Skoblar in the 1970-71 season.

Although that figure seems just a little too far away for PSG’s talismanic No. 10 to reach, Carlos Bianchi’s 1977-78 total of 37 is within his grasp and would be an impressive feat to achieve before leaving the French champions.