Paris Saint-Germain overcame the early loss of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic as they eased to a 2-0 victory against SC Bastia at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
|Last Updated: Aug 16, 2014, 10:50 PM IST|Source: AFP
Paris: Paris Saint-Germain overcame the early loss of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic as they eased to a 2-0 victory against SC Bastia at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The Swede appeared to strain a muscle in his side in innocuous fashion early on, and lasted barely 15 minutes before making way for Ezequiel Lavezzi.
However, in his absence, Lucas opened the scoring in the 26th minute and Edinson Cavani doubled their advantage just before the hour mark to score his first of the campaign and give PSG their first victory in Ligue 1 after last weekend`s 2-2 draw at Reims.
Bastia had never beaten PSG away from home in the top flight but they were optimistic of springing a surprise thanks to the influence of their new coach Claude Makelele, the former Paris captain who gave up his role as assistant coach at the Parc des Princes to take over in Corsica this summer.
Makelele`s men had recovered from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at home to Marseille last weekend, but they rarely looked like doing anything similar on this occasion as PSG`s expensive summer signing David Luiz was afforded a gentle stroll in the late afternoon sunshine for his Ligue 1 debut.
The Brazilian -- signed from Chelsea for a reported 50 million euros (£39.9m, $67.1m) -- might not have started this match had his compatriot and captain Thiago Silva not been ruled out for several weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in Monday`s friendly win against Napoli, and home coach Laurent Blanc could have done without losing his stand-in skipper Ibrahimovic as a result.
Blanc also took Gregory Van der Wiel off at half-time, the Dutch right-back reportedly struggling with a calf knock and making way for Serge Aurier, who made his home debut after signing on loan from Toulouse.
Before that, Van der Wiel had been the creator of the game`s opening goal, his cross from the right being met first-time on the volley by the unmarked Lucas at the back post.
The reigning champions then struck again in the 57th minute when Uruguay star Cavani brilliantly controlled a quickly-taken Marco Verratti free-kick inside the area before acrobatically volleying past Bastia`s on-loan PSG goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and into the net.
On Friday, Lille warmed up for the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Portuguese giants FC Porto by beating promoted Caen 1-0 courtesy of a second-half penalty from Belgian international forward Divock Origi.
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