In the 66th minute of Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal clash with Chelsea on Wednesday, the moment that every PSG fan (and likely coach Laurent Blanc too) has been dreading this season finally arrived.
Star striker and the team’s biggest contributor to domestic and Europe success, the seemingly indestructible Zlatan Ibrahimovic, crumpled to the Parc des Princes turf clutching his right leg.
On Friday, the club announced that the super Swede had suffered a thigh injury against the Blues, but the French champions’ president Nasser Al-Khelaifi had already gone on radio the day before and declared to RMC that the 32-year-old will miss “a minimum of four weeks.”
Shock. Horror. What do PSG do now?
Not only could the injury be fatal to the Parisians’ European hopes on (and potentially past) Tuesday, but those four weeks also include a Coupe de la Ligue final and at least four Ligue 1 encounters. On a personal level, the injury could also prove fatal to Ibrahimovic’s season which, until this point, had been going extremely well. The player himself called it “my best ever” as recently as Tuesday.
Now no matter how well he has played this campaign -- and he has been superior to last season’s Zlatan in so many ways -- statistically, if his season were to end now, it will be considered inferior in terms of league goals at least because he will only have 25 compared to last term’s 30. His European numbers may be far greater, but he will lose the chance to better his tally in le Championnat and potentially break more French footballing records as well.
This might seem like a knee-jerk reaction with the full extent of the injury still yet to be known, but is this the moment that Ibrahimovic’s crown starts to slip from his head in the capital?
Although far from a fall from grace, this injury has come at the worst possible time for the towering striker. Not only was he at the peak of his powers technically, physically and mentally, he was also on the verge of helping his side take a significant step towards their overall goal of European domination as they sweep all before them domestically.
Ibrahimovic’s absence will now present his disgruntled strike partner Edinson Cavani with the most unexpected of reprieves.
It is the same chance that the talismanic Swede enjoyed earlier this year, cementing his status at PSG’s undisputed top dog at the sharp end of the PSG attack, while the Uruguayan nursed a hamstring problem and missed the same four weeks estimated for Zlatan’s recovery.
Cavani’s situation is more complex though.
After recent transfer stories, including a surprising recent interview with L’Equipe where he appeared to unhappy at the club's current setup, doubts have been cast over his future in Paris past the end of the season. Al-Khelaifi addressed those issues in his interview with RMC on Thursday and insisted that the Uruguayan will stay, yet it still remains unclear how the two can happily coexist in the same team.
Ibrahimovic’s injury offers Cavani the chance of salvation in his PSG career; it is an opportunity to prove beyond any possible doubt that he is indispensable on the pitch.
Intriguingly though it arguably makes PSG more dangerous at the same time, certainly ahead of the second leg encounter with Chelsea when they will need to be at their best on the break. Cavani flanked by the whippet-like speed of Lucas Moura and Ezequiel Lavezzi, although perhaps not evident against Stade de Reims this weekend, will make PSG more functional going forward at Stamford Bridge.
Functional is a key word when discussing the Ibrahimovic-Cavani conundrum, because PSG appear to be a more fluid and complete team when one of the pair is unavailable.
The pace posed by Lavezzi and Lucas on either side gives the front three more balance than when el Matador, although no slouch himself, is deployed on the right. Those players also appear more comfortable playing in their natural roles and it brings Moura, who can consider himself unlucky to have found himself on the fringes of late in any case, back into starting XI equation as well as Cavani.
However, they do then lack Ibrahimovic’s individual brilliance. This is often as decisive, if not more, than the PSG led by Cavani. At 32, the Swede was at his absolute peak prior to this injury and despite Wednesday’s performance, his absence will be a massive blow for Blanc’s team.
Ibrahimovic desperately wanted to avoid an injury at this point too.
The thought of the end of season and an idle summer was bad enough as the sands of time catch up with him (yes even Zlatan is not immune to these things). This injury, assuming it keeps him out for more than four weeks, has the potential to change the entire chemistry at PSG depending on what happens while he is out.
This is now Cavani’s chance at redemption, starting against Reims this weekend, but will he seize it?
Until the South American quells speculation over his unrest at the club, by putting in some impressive performances on the pitch, his absent strike partner’s tall and unmistakable shadow will hang long over the Parc des Princes pitch.