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PARIS SAINT GERMAIN

Zlatan past 100 mark with impressive hat-trick

Swedish star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 100th goal for Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, with an impressive hat-trick that sent the team to a 4-1 French Cup semi-final victory over Saint-Etienne as their epic quest for a four-trophy sweep continued apace.

Zlatan past 100 mark with impressive hat-trick
Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a match against Marseille earlier this week. Photo: AP Photo/Claude Paris

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The Swede's opener from the penalty spot on the 21st minute was his 100th goal for the club. He then rounded the goalkeeper on 81 for the second, and completed his hat-trick with a fine run and shot in injury-time.

Saint-Etienne coach Christophe Galtier praised Ibrahimovic as “the greatest foreigner to have played in France” as he lamented his side's inability to match PSG's pounding artillery.

PSG have scored 11 times against Saint-Etienne in four matches this season of which eight have come off Ibrahimovic's boot. They now face second division Auxerre, who beat holders Guingamp 1-0 on Tuesday, in the Cup final at the Stade de France on May 30th.

Paris also take on Bastia in the League Cup final at the same venue on Saturday, face Barcelona in Paris in the Champions League quarter-finals first-leg next Wednesday and they lead Ligue 1 by a singe point from Lyon. No French club has ever clinched the domestic treble.

Ibrahimovic's hat-trick in Wednesday's match made him PSG's second top all-time scorer, just seven shy of Pauleta's 109 goals.


Zlatan Ibrahimovic now has his own search engine. Photo: Screenshot of zlaaatan.com

In other news, the 33-year-old striker hit international media for reasons off the football pitch as well, after a Swedish-based advertising agency set up an online search engine called zlaaatan.com. The search engine works exactly like Google, except for one detail: it will link every search to Zlatan-related stories only. Since its launch last Thursday, it has been used by over 100,000 people worldwide.

“If you type Ferrari you find information on the Ferrari Zlatan. If you are looking for recipes, you have Zlatan Burger. Zlatan is an idol. He is known to the world, which is why we chose him,” explained Andreas Killander, creative director at SweetPop, to L'Equipe.

“We did not ask him for his permission, but we hope that he will see it as a fun experience.”

Meanwhile, the giant Swede, who makes headlines for his offhand comments almost as often as for his football feats, was set to face the French league's disciplinary commission on Thursday for comments made after his side's defeat at Bordeaux on March 15th, when he labelled France a “shit country” that “does not deserve PSG”.

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IBRAHIMOVIC

Zlatan has been ‘cured’ of coronavirus: AC Milan

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been given the all-clear to end his quarantine period and return to action after testing negative for coronavirus, the Serie A club announced on Friday.

Zlatan has been 'cured' of coronavirus: AC Milan
Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring a goal in September. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP
Milan confirmed in a statement that the Swedish striker had “tested negative” twice in a row, as stipulated in the protocol to be able to lift the quarantine procedure.
   
Ibrahimovic, 39, sounded a more triumphal note on his social media: “You are cured! The health authority says the quarantine is over, you can go out!”, he wrote on Twitter.

The announcement comes a day after Milan said Ibrahimovic had tested positive a second time for Covid-19, putting in doubt his participation in the Milan derby on October 17.
 
   
Ibrahimovic first tested positive on September 24.
   
The derby remains in doubt with two other Milan players and five from Inter currently in self-quarantine.
   
In spite of his absence, Milan have made a decent start to the season, having climbed to second in Serie A after winning all three of their games and reaching the group stages of the Europa League.
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