Paris Saint-Germain extended their lead at the Ligue 1 summit to 28 points with a 1-1 draw away at Girondins de Bordeaux on Wednesday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring for Laurent Blanc‘s men with a superb headed effort from an Angel Di Maria cross after 59 minutes, the Sweden international’s 36th goal in Le Championnat this season.
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Although Nicolas Pallois went on to equalise for Les Girondins just seven minutes later, Ibrahimovic‘s goal moved him one step closer to Carlos Bianchi’s 1977-78 total of 37. The talismanic striker needs just one more strike to level the Argentinian’s tally, but two would break it.
With FC Nantes at Parc des Princes on Saturday for the final Ligue 1 match of the season, the 34-year-old bettering Bianchi’s benchmark was very possible.
However, with 19 minutes left at Matmut Atlantique on Wednesday, Ibrahimovic came off injured and was replaced by Jean-Kevin Augustin.
Blanc then confirmed when speaking after the final whistle in Bordeaux that PSG‘s No. 10 is suffering from pain in his calf and offered no assurances that the Scandinavian superstar will be fit to play against Nantes in Paris this weekend.
My players gave the maximum, even though tonight the maximum wasn’t too spectacular. Luckily there wasn’t much at stake. (On Zlatan Ibrahimovic, forced off injured) Zlatan had a bit of pain in his calf and he preferred to come off. He’ll do all he can to be there on the pitch (on Saturday against Nantes) but he has some big matches coming up, notably the Euros, so neither he nor we will be taking the slightest risk.
With Ibrahimovic‘s contract expiring this summer and no news that an agreement over an extension to that deal has been reached—or that one has even been offered—it is possible Ligue 1 saw the last of Zlatan in the 1-1 draw away at Bordeaux.
PSG still have a Coupe de France final against bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille to come later this month, and the Swede is unlikely to want to miss that visit to Stade de France for what may well be his final piece of silverware as a player with the French champions.
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Although the Coupe de France clash and the upcoming European Championship with Sweden are understandably more important than a meaningless Ligue 1 clash with Nantes, it would be a shame if Ibrahimovic was not given a proper chance to say goodbye to the Parc des Princes crowd.
Considering all that he has done for PSG and Ligue 1, Zlatan is deserving of one final send-off in the French capital, and Nantes could be the perfect opponents for that.
If Ibrahimovic is fit enough to start against Michel Der Zakarian’s men on Saturday, he could be signing off in Le Championnat with considerable style.
With 36 goals and 13 assists from just 30 league appearances for Zlatan, the capital club’s fans are witnessing modern French footballing history being written by their star man on an almost weekly basis.
To break one last target and make what is already his best-ever season even better would be a memorable way for arguably the best player to ever grace the French top flight to sign off.
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Assuming this is it for Ibrahimovic‘s time at PSG—which appears very likely at this moment in time—then the former AC Milan, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, AFC Ajax and Malmo FF star merits his chance to bow out with a bang.
Les Parisiens will be celebrating their latest Ligue 1 and Coupe de la Ligue triumphs after Saturday’s clash with Nantes, and if Zlatan is fit to feature—even just as a substitute—then it will add to the party atmosphere at Parc des Princes this weekend.
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