Di Maria left out of PSG squad for Bastia game

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his second brace of the season as Paris Saint-Germain ran out 2-0 winners against a gutsy Bastia side.

“Overall, we can be satisfied with that game”, he said.

PSG travelled to Bastia without the likes of Marco Verratti, David Luiz, Kevin Trapp, Angel Di Maria and Blaise Matuidi due to injury and suspension, and their performance was unconvincing during the opening 45 minutes. That sealed a sixth defeat in seven matches for Ghislain Printant’s Bastia and ensured that PSG go into Wednesday’s Champions League showdown with Real Madrid in excellent shape.

“We had to keep plugging away, pass the ball better”.

Opposite number Jean-Louis Leca remained untroubled at the other end, with Ibrahimovic spurning the best chance of the half five minutes before the break, poking wide from three yards following Maxwell’s cross from the byline.

Rabiot then planted a header straight at Leca following a corner but Paris eventually made the breakthrough, albeit in controversial circumstances.

The capital club are top of the table, five points ahead of the chasing pack, and beat great rivals Olympique de Marseille 2-1 in the Classique at the Parc des Princes in their last outing, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a brace of penalties to become PSG’s all-time leading scorer with 110 goals, one more than Portuguese star Pauleta’s mark.

His double here saw him move to 112 goals in all competitions for PSG and underlined how much he enjoys playing against Bastia. Caen was also on 21 points after beating Reims 1-0.

His patched-up side were slow out of the blocks at the Stade Armand Cesari, with Ibrahimovic’s ambitious 35-yard free-kick the only sight of goal during a physical opening 15 minutes.

Goals from Valentin Rongier, Youssouf Sabaly and Yacine Bammou steered Nantes to a 3-0 victory over Troyes, while Guingamp striker Jimmy Briand cancelled out Sofiane Boufal’s opener for Lille in a 1-1 draw.

Mario Pasalic, on loan from Chelsea, netted his first Ligue 1 goal to put Monaco in front on 39 minutes but the home side were unable to hold on after Wallace was sent off midway through the second half for a horror tackle on Rachid Ghezzal.