ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC SCORED twice to leave Paris Saint-Germain on course for the Champions League quarter-finals after their 4-0 win at 10-man Bayer Leverkusen in tonight’s last 16, first-leg clash.
Leverkusen, second only to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, suffered their third straight home defeat as Laurent Blanc’s PSG were rarely troubled at the BayArena with Ibrahimovic the architect of the victory with two goals in three first-half minutes.
Left winger Blaise Matuidi put PSG ahead with barely two minutes gone before Ibrahimovic netted a penalty, then added a second when he unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot to make it 3-0 at the break.
Replacement Yohan Cabaye then added PSG’s fourth just before the final whistle.
It meant 32-year-old Ibrahimovic replaced Cristiano Ronaldo as the competition’s top-scorer with 10 goals in six Champions League games this season after the Swedish star also netted four in the 5-0 rout of RSC Anderlecht in Belgium last October.
Bayer were reduced to 10 men when Ibrahimovic’s marker Emir Spahic was sent off for a second yellow, and the subsequent red, for the final half an hour.
Sami Hyypia-coached Leverkusen now face an unenviable task to try and salvage something from the return leg in Paris on March 12.