Champions League: Paris Saint Germain 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
IBRA LEADS PSG INTO UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND OF 16
Unbeaten at home in a Champions League group match since 2004, French Ligue 1 title holders PSG continued their winning streak at Parc des Princes by soundly beating Skakhtar Donesk.
With five clean sheets already to their credit, Paris Saint Germain defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 with another clean sheet against Shakhtar goalkeeper Anton Kanibolotskiy in their final Group A game at home in Paris on Tuesday to go through to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 in second place, only three points behind Spanish titan leaders Real Madrid.
Real Madrid secured first place in Group A, and PSG was already guaranteed the second spot in the upcoming knock-out stage.
PSG manager, Laurent Blanc, rested several players including captain, Thiago Silva, and Marco Verratti who were not included in the squad. Edinson Cavani, Thiago Motta and Angel Di María started the match on the bench.
PSG goals were by Lucas Moura at 57 minutes and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at 86 minutes.
Brazilian Lucas opened the scoring for PSG in the second half, almost an hour into the clash, with a clean strike into the left corner.
Lucas then sent a long pass into Ibra’s path, and the Swedish PSG Captain finished with a perfect shot, making him PSG's all-time leading scorer in European competition with 17 goals to his credit to date for Les Parisiens in the Champions League – one more goal than former Ballon d'Or winner George Weah.
PSG’s charismatic talisman “Ibracadabra" joined Paris from AC Milan in 2012.
After setting up the opener for Edinson Cavani, Ibrahimović moved clear as Paris Saint-Germain's all-time leading goal-scorer in French Ligue 1 history by grabbing his 86th and 87th goals in their recent French Premier League 3-0 victory against Nice.
Ibra went level with previous record-holder Mustapha Dahleb on 85 goals against Troyes, and set a new goals landmark by netting from the penalty spot after being brought down in the 44th minute. Zlatan scored his 2nd goal of the match against Nice at 61 minutes.
Earlier in the 2015-16 season, Sweden forward Zlatan surpassed Pauleta as PSG’s top goal scorer in October before setting a new goals benchmark for his side in Ligue 1 last weekend.
Ibra is out of contract at the end of the 2015 – 2016 campaign.
"There has been a lot of talk about how this is my last year at Paris Saint-Germain, but only I will decide what will happen," he said. "I have not decided yet."
Without doubt, 34-year-old Ibra is aiming to win the knockout phase and has his eye on the Champions League silverware having never won the European competition.
Shakhtar finished third in Group A to qualify for the Europa League on three points, ahead of Malmo on goal difference.
Squads
PSG
Trapp, Marquinhos, Kyurzava, Van der Wiel, David Luiz, Stambouli, Lucas (Nkunku, 87), Matuidi (Di Maria, 68), Rabiot, Ibrahimovic (c), Lavezzi (Cavani, 69)
Goals: Lucas 57, Ibrahimovic 86
Shakhtar
Kanibolotskyy, Srna (c), Kucher, Rakitskiy, Ismaily, Stepanenko, Fred, Marlos (Kovalenko, 74), Taison (Bernard, 69), Teixeira, Eduardo (Dentinho, 78)
Goals: None
Paris Saint Germain is in first place on the French Ligue 1 Table with 45 points, followed by Angers in second with 30 points; Caen in third with 29 points; Monaco in fourth with 28 points; and Lyon in fifth place with 26 points.
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