Football
Mark Rodden 8y

Blaise Matuidi honoured to play alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi says that he will tell his grandchildren that he played alongside the club's record goal scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic, 34, broke Pauleta's all-time goalscoring record at the club when he netted his second penalty of the game in the defending French champions' 2-1 win over arch rivals Marseille on Sunday.

That goal was his 110th in 137 matches for PSG, one more than former Portuguese international Pauleta managed in his five years at the club.

The Swedish striker's 78th and 79th goals in Ligue 1 also made him the all-time leading goal scorer in Classique matches between PSG and Marseille.

Matuidi, 28, says it has been a privilege to play alongside the talismanic forward, who moved to the French capital from AC Milan in 2012.

"We can say to our grandchildren that we played with Ibrahimovic," he told reporters after the game.

"He's fantastic. I hope he can bring us very far this season. He's scored another two goals in a Classique. Great players always answer the call when they have to."

Ibrahimovic was hunting for his eighth hat trick as a PSG player but he was withdrawn with 19 minutes left.

PSG manager Laurent Blanc said the substitution was designed to save him for bigger challenges to come.

"It's not a surprise for me or for you [that he had broken the record]," Blanc told a news conference.

"He's an extraordinary player who has always scored a lot of goals from a very young age. And he'll continue to do so."

Ibrahimovic said that it was more important that PSG had moved five points clear at the top of Ligue 1 than to break another record.

"We won an important game and at the same time I took the record so it's a good day -- a good memory," he told reporters.

"The [second goal] was good because we went to 2-1. So it was an important moment for the team. The record is something extra -- not decisive.

"Of course you feel it. Deep inside, you feel it. But the most important was that we went to 2-1 in the game."

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