It has been a little more difficult that many fans expected, but Paris Saint-Germain will ente the Ligue 1 winter break as league leaders after beating 10-man Brest on Friday, for their fourth successive win.
PSG are three points ahead of Lyon and Marseille, but their superior goal difference of 24, compared to 13 and three respectively for their title rivals, will allow them to go into 2013 in pole position.
However, Carlo Ancelotti’s side will not be getting carried away by their high-flying status – 12 months ago they also led the way at Christmas only to see Montpellier take the title in May.
“We will have a good holiday because we are top of the table,” said Ancelotti.
“It was another good performance. It wasn’t easy because of the pitch and the opponents. It confirmed that we are in a good moment.”
PSG were certainly helped against Brest when Abdou Sissoko, the little brother of PSG’s Mohamed, was sent off after only 30 minutes for a bruising tackle on Ezequiel Lavezzi.
However, it wasn’t until the second half that PSG took advantage of their numerical superiority.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring after 55 minutes with his 18th league goal of the season, finishing off a centre from Christophe Jallet.
Kevin Gameiro added the second in the 73rd minute with his fifth goal of the campaign just minutes after coming on as a substitute. Bernard Mendy then put through his own goal in the second minute of stoppage time to wrap up the 3-9 victory.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a player that divides fans, but he has been everything that PSG hoped for, when they spent €20 million for him this summer. His 18 league goals, in 16 games, have almost single-handed lead PSG to first place in the league, and if he can keep up that scoring pace in the second half of the season, he should win a remarkable 8th league winners medal.
