Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice as Paris St Germain made up for their midweek Champions League defeat to Real Madrid by crushing Toulouse 5-0 to stretch their Ligue 1 lead to 11 points on Saturday.
Ángel Di María netted after six minutes to set PSG on their way, while second-half substitute Lucas and Ezequiel Lavezzi also got on the scoresheet. “We’re doing something outstanding. I think we can finish the [league] season unbeaten,” said Lucas.
Caen beat Guincamp 2-1, thanks to second-half goals from Julien Féret and Andy Delort, to move to second place, though they will be overtaken if either side wins Sunday’s meeting between Olympique Lyonnais and St Etienne, both two points further behind on 22, having played a game fewer.
Di María put PSG in front with a long-range free-kick that flew just over a crowd of players in the box and bounced past the Toulouse keeper, Al Ahamada. Ibrahimovic then headed home his 50th Ligue 1 goal at the Parc des Princes in the 18th minute after Marcel Tisserand inexplicably headed the ball straight to the Sweden striker, who was standing five yards in front of an empty net.
Lucas came off the bench to replace Edinson Cavani and made an immediate impact, scoring with a header in the 66th minute. He then slalomed through the defence in the 75th minute and, though his shot was tipped away by Ahamada, Ibrahimovic poked in the rebound, his ninth goal in his last eight league appearances and his 115th in 140 games since joining PSG from Milan before the 2012-13 season.
Lavezzi rubbed salt into Toulouse’s wounds three minutes later after Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik totally misjudged the flight of Ibrahimovic’s pass, allowing the Argentinian to run clear of the visiting defence. “If we continue like this we will be able to rest some players after Christmas in order to concentrate on the Champions League,” said the PSG centre back Thiago Silva.
