Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Cup final more important than PSG goal landmark

Zlatan Ibrahimovic said reaching the Coupe de France final is much more important than breaking the 100-goal barrier for Paris Saint-Germain as his hat trick helped the team to a 4-1 victory over St Etienne.

Ibrahimovic, 33, had been criticised for his disappointing display in PSG's 3-2 league win at title rivals Marseille on Sunday, but he silenced the doubters with an inspired performance in the cup semifinal at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

After opening the scoring from the penalty spot to move onto a century of strikes for the club he joined in 2012, the Sweden international then struck twice in the closing stages as Laurent Blanc's men romped home to remain on course for a quadruple this season.

Under the headline "Zlatan gets annoyed and sends PSG into the final," RMC reported that Blanc's men's win was "fully deserved, stamped with the seal of Zlatan." Le Parisien said the "real" Ibrahimovic had been "rediscovered."

With the French Football League's Disciplinary Commission set to rule on Thursday on Ibrahimovic's recent foul-mouthed outburst at the officials of PSG's defeat at Bordeaux, which could see the forward handed a five-game ban, the paper added that his match-winning display had "given an idea of the void he may leave in the coming weeks."

For his part, Ibrahimovic was keen to emphasise that his focus had been on helping PSG take a step closer to winning some silverware.

"If it were like that every evening, it would be like Christmas every day -- it would be cool," Ibrahimovic told media. "Seriously, we're in the final and that's the most important thing. Knowing that I score the goals is a lot less. I have to thank the whole team. It's my teammates who have enabled me to score these 102 goals for Paris. I'm very happy about it."

Ibrahimovic's triple leaves him just seven goals short of Pauleta's club record.

While the former Portugal international took five years and 211 games in PSG colours to reach his tally, Ibrahimovic, who scored 41 times last season to break the club record for a single campaign, has taken just 124 matches in less than three years.

"We imagine Modesto and Squillaci, the two Bastia central defenders, this morning," L'Equipe wrote, referring to Francois Modesto and Sebastien Squillaci, who will come face-to-face with Ibrahimovic in Saturday's Coupe de la Ligue final.

"Did they exchange a little text message at the end of the game or a quick call? They must already be asking themselves how to handle this phenomenon on Saturday in the Coupe de la Ligue final."

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