Monday, 3rd September, 2012
Zlatan Ibrahimovic powered Paris Saint-Germain to their first win of the season yesterday against Lille and left opposition defender Aurelien Chedjou dubbing him "half the team".
The pressure was on Carlo Ancelotti’s expensively assembled PSG side, with the club’s first three games having finished as draws and the team having failed to find the back of the net for two successive Ligue 1 matches.
Collecting a first three points against Lille though was a tough task and, in the end, the only difference between last season’s runners-up and last season’s third place finishers was indeed Ibrahimovic.
The powerful Swedish striker fired PSG into the lead after just one minute, before Chedjou himself levelled matters.
However, in the 21st minute, less than ten minutes after Chedjou had put Lille back on level terms, Ibrahimovic struck again. This time there was no way back into the game for Rudi Garcia’s side – and 2-1 to the visitors was how it finished.
For Chedjou, the score would have been different had PSG not been able to call upon Ibrahimovic, signed just this summer from AC Milan.
"Ibrahimovic is complete, both physically and technically", said the defender.
"He is 1.95m and there are not many players of this size who are as fast as he is.
"No disrespect to the others, but he is half the team on his own."
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