Zlatan Ibrahimovic ends PSG goal drought in style

The Sweden global netted his first club goal of the season – at the fourth attempt – for the French champions just as it looked as though he was going to be left exasperated on an otherwise straightforward evening for PSG.

Paris Saint-Germain attacker Angel di Maria has been “very surprised” by how good team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic is.

After Javier Pastore put the hosts ahead with a neat finish in the 18th minute, Di Maria opened his account in the 76th as he took advantage of a mistake from goalkeeper Jonas Lossl to score from the rebound. “We created chances but were not effective”, he said.

But, speaking on Monday, coach Blanc said: “Ibrahimovic is not in the best possible form”. “The most important thing is that I keep getting back to my best”.

“He is finding it more hard to score goals than usual [this season]”, he added.

The Frenchman had defended his decision to rotate his squad in successive draws but the capital club were nearly at full strength on Tuesday with the exception of rested duo Thiago Silva and Marco Verratti.

Briand set up Guingamp’s opener against Ajaccio before scoring the victor and has proved pivotal in his team’s recent impressive run.

First, Ibrahimovic had a thunderous free-kick fisted away by Lossl with the Swede again left frustrated as Laurent dos Santos rushed back to clear off the line after PSG’s stand-in skipper had slipped the ball past Lossl from a tight angle.

No matter the XI, PSG should always be stronger than minnows like Guingamp.

Di Maria joined the Ligue 1 champions in August, completing a £44million move from Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic cut in from the right and after his low drive was spilled by the visiting keeper, Di Maria was quickest to react to the rebound for his first Ligue 1 goal.

After two draws in their previous league outings, there was a danger the crowd at Parc des Princes could have grown impatient with Laurent Blanc’s men, but a star-studded team quickly settled any nerves around the stadium and the result rarely looked in doubt.