Valenciennes 0-1 PSG: Cavani's impeccable timing saves sluggish Paris

Paris Saint-Germain’s commercial department have been busy recently securing a range of new sponsorship deals. Not content with having signed up Qatari telecoms firm Ooredoo (yes, they’re really called Ooredoo) and Nivea for Men in recent weeks, the club has now added Hublot as, wait for it, Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of PSG. What an honour for them. “Paris is the European capital for good taste, elegance and luxury,” said Hublot’s CEO Jean-Claude Biver. “Paris is the world tourism capital. And thanks to Paris Saint-Germain, Paris is the capital of European football. Hublot could afford to not be associated with this club and it is a privilege for Hublot to keep time for the future glorious hours of Paris Saint-Germain!" Whether this sponsorship deal had anything to do with...

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Valenciennes vs PSG: Ibra and his new deal dream of goals at the Stade de Hainaut

Paris Saint-Germain travel to Valenciennes tonight boosted by the news that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed a one-year contract extension. "I don't see a more ambitious club in Europe than Paris Saint-Germain,” said Zlatan, who is now contracted at the Parc des Princes until 2016. “My wish is that Paris Saint-Germain is my last big Club. This Club is like me: the dream is never big enough." What a load of bollocks, if those words actually flowed from Zlatan’s lovely mouth in that order I’ll eat my shoes. I hate all the marketing rubbish that surrounds the club these days, it’s not like Ibra doesn’t provide good quotes without some press office flunky putting words into his mouth. And check out the photo of the Swede putting pen-to-paper,...

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Cashico Conclusions: What did we learn from PSG 1-1 Monaco?

Sunday night's show-down at the Parc des Princes ended with honours even, as Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco played out a 1-1 draw. Zlatan Ibrahimovic emphatically opened the scoring early on from close-range after a delicious cross from Maxwell. Ibra referred to Maxwell as a teddy-bear a few weeks back, and the pair certainly enjoyed a long and loving cuddle following the goal. Alas, the lead didn't last long, with Falcao bundling in an equaliser from Joao Moutinho's cross. Merde. PSG had chances to regain the lead, notably through Ibra twice, then late on via Edinson Cavani, but couldn't find the winning goal their performance probably merited. So a point a piece, and the status quo remains at the top of Ligue 1. But what did we learn from the game? Here are some points to consider, in...

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PSG vs Monaco: Countdown to Le Cashico

[View the story "PSG vs Monaco: The Cashico count-down" on Stori...

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Starting to get worried about Zlatan? Don't

In their only hit of note, terrible pop band The Hoosiers were Worried About Ray. As far as I know, most Paris Saint-Germain fans don’t share the group’s concerns about anyone called Ray – except Domenech perhaps – but some are starting to get worried about Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Last season Ibra’s goal output was consistently impressive, starting with a double on debut against Lorient and ending the season with an impressive total of 30 goals in 33 matches, making him the first player to score 30 Ligue 1 goals since Jean-Pierre Papin in 1989. So far this term he hasn’t hit those heights, with one goal– a last minute strike against Guingamp – to show for his efforts in our opening five league games. Throw in his penalty miss against Olympiacos, and the presence of New Big Name on the Block...

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Olympiacos 1-4 PSG: Greeks cornered by Motta and Co

Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice? Last season, Paris Saint-Germain began their Champions League campaign with a 4-1 win that featured a debut goal from a Brazilian centre-back. Fast forward 12 months and the same thing has happened again. This year the opponents were Olympiacos, not Dynamo Kiev, and the debutant was Marquinhos not Thiago Silva, but the result and score-line remained happily unchanged. The only difference from last term is that this time we were away from home, making the win arguably more impressive. That said, the team’s performance did not quite match the swashbuckling destruction of Kiev, but boss Laurent Blanc was still a happy man afterwards. "It was a match of two halves,” he said. “We made too many mistakes in the first half, mostly because Olympiacos put...

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Olympiacos vs PSG: Parisiens seek to use the force as Champions League returns

Tonight is the start of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League episode two: The Empire Strikes back. One might argue we never really had an Empire in the first place, so it will be difficult to strike back, but what is true is that the squad assembled by the Emperor (President Nasser) and his evil side-kick Darth Vader (Leonardo) is currently in a galaxy far, far, away (Greece) preparing to taking on Olympiacos. So far during his reign Laurent Blanc has often resembled one of those startled officers who has to hastily take command of the Death Star after Vader has bumped off his predecessor. But Friday night's match against former club Bordeaux saw PSG put in an impressive display, and the ex-France coach will be hoping for a repeat of that showing in the Karaiskakis Stadium. "If...

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Bordeaux 0-2 PSG: Lucas gives Blanc Mour-a to smile about

So according to reports this weekend Gareth Bale turned down a switch to Paris Saint-Germain, while Cristiano Ronaldo was never really interested in the first place. Quelle surprise. While I'm sure Laurent Blanc would be happy to have either or both of the Real Madrid posers wingers in his squad, he already has a wide-man of his own to be proud of after Lucas Moura played a starring role in PSG's 2-0 win at Bordeaux on Friday. "Football is sometimes strange," said Blanc after our victory at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which came courtesy of goals from Moura and big bad Blaise Matuidi. "Our job is to prepare the match all week, elaborate how we'll play, strategies to beat our opponents. This one we didn't prepare at all, absolutely not, we got some players back from international duty...

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Bordeaux vs PSG: Wedding bells for Leo as Blanc returns to old flame

Choosing who to invite to your wedding is not an easy business. With limited space available, much of which is taken up by people who get invites by default (parents, siblings, pervy old uncles you only see once a decade), work colleagues can be a problematic area; who do you actually like enough to share your big day with? Will Miss Y the saleswoman get offended if she doesn’t get an invitation but her mate, Miss X the receptionist, does? It’s a complete minefield. Former Paris Saint-Germain director of football Leonardo recently celebrated his marriage to Italian TV presenter Anna Billo. You may remember that Leo proposed to his long-term partner live on television earlier this year, a romantic move which didn’t seem to please the fragrant Miss Billo at the time. However, she must have...

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Stupid PSG picture of the week: Get in line for a Zlatan burger

"I always knew that I would not leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer," said Zlatan Ibrahimovic at a press conference yesterday. "The club takes care of me very well." Always good to near nice words from the Z-man, who is currently away with the Sweden national team. In any case, Ibra can't leave Paris now as he has been immortalised by one of the city's bistros. I'm not entirely sure where in the city one would find this gastronomic delight, but it comes complete with it's own hackneyed Chuck Norris reference. Pic: @Margot_Dumont "To share, but Chuck Norris eats a whole one". I'm sure it's more funny in French. But which other PSG players would make good fast food? Here are a few ideas; [View the story "PSG fast food" on Stori...

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PSG 2-0 Guingamp: King Sakho is dead, long live Prince Rabiot?

Today is a sad one for Paris Saint-Germain fans, with the news that Mamadou Sakho has completed his transfer to Liverpool. I'm sure we'll all miss Mamad's happy smiling face and fondness of over-sized baseball caps, not to mention his usually rock-solid defending. Time pressures permitting, I'm planning a tribute piece for tomorrow's blog, so will go into more detail then. News of Sakho's impending departure broke on Friday, and there was a certain symbolism about Adrien Rabiot getting on the scoresheet as PSG beat Guingamp 2-0 at the Parc des Princes on Saturday afternoon. With Sakho and Clement Chantome gone, the club needs a new home-grown hero and the precocious Rabiot could well fit the bill. Though only 18, anyone who has seen Rabiot play will confirm that, in the immortal words of...

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