Paris Saint Germain 3-0 Lyon (2016)

Paris Saint Germain 3-0 Lyon
Coupe De France
Wednesday 10th February 2016

When it comes to enigmatic modern day footballers, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is definitely one of the more well-known names at the top of the list for being divisive.

Some people (including me) no doubt think he's a bit of a kn*b who lives in cloud cuckoo land - largely due to his super-massive ego and tendency to talk about himself in third person. Alternatively, there are others who see him as a messiah-like figure and love everything about him.

What cannot be doubted about the bloke though is his ability on a football pitch. His goals tally heading into this Coupe De France encounter read 'Played 159, Goals Scored: 131' which speaks for itself. It's fair to say that in this game (which was only a few months before his move to Man United), he also tore Lyon's defence to pieces.

As I was spending a month travelling Europe on the cheap watching - taking in some sights and enjoying some football, I expected this game would be one of the best on my trip given PSG were the dominant team in France whilst Lyon were also decent.

The weather in Paris wasn't the best so the short walk from the metro station to the stadium (which, coincidentally, is next to the Roland Garros Tennis Courts) was in really heavy rain - thus meaning I was soaked by time I got past the various security checks and actually made it inside.

Sadly, the Parc Des Princes itself didn't live up to expectations so it isn't my favourite in France by any means. This is partly down to the fact that there's a massive gap between the pitch and the stand, shallow seating, and also because the atmosphere seemed noticeably orchestrated and commercialised throughout the game with 'Uptown Funk' for goal music and it just didn't work very well.

On the pitch, PSG were far slicker and sauntered to what was a comfortable win. It was never in doubt as soon as Ibrahimovic struck twice in quick succession to put them in command, just after the hour mark, before Adrien Rabiot then bagged a third goal.

I wouldn't rush back here in a hurry, but it was another one off the old 'Hyacinth' bucket list...