Paris Saint-Germain secured a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title in stunning style, thrashing Troyes 9-0 in a club-record league victory on Sunday with talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring four of the goals.
Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore and Adrien Rabiot had the champions three goals up within 19 minutes against the bottom-of-the table hosts.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved past 100 Ligue 1 goals with a stunning hat-trick in under 10 minutes at the start of the second half, before Matthieu Saunier’s own goal and a Cavani rebound from his own missed penalty piled the misery on Troyes, who ended with 10 men after Lossemy Karaboue’s red card.
Ibrahimovic added his fourth of the afternoon with two minutes left as PSG emphatically pulled 25 points ahead of second-placed Monaco with eight matches remaining, sealing the club’s sixth Ligue 1 crown.
Laurent Blanc’s men will now set their sights on an historic quadruple, with their hopes in the Champions League, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue still alive after a league campaign that has seen them win 24, draw five and lose just one of their 30 games.
Any doubts over whether this would be the match that gave PSG title glory were quickly put to bed with a run of three goals in just under six first-half minutes.
Troyes made a disastrous mistake to set up the first after 13 minutes when an awful square pass from defender Saunier allowed Cavani to race through on goal unchallenged.
The Uruguay international’s first attempt was saved by the legs of Matthieu Dreyer, but he was able to comfortably roll home at the second attempt.
The second goal was the pick of the bunch, with Pastore latching onto Ibrahimovic’s flick before surging past two defenders and dinking a superb finish over Dreyer, who had gone to ground.
PSG then quickly moved three ahead when Cavani collected Pastore’s clever pass and saw a shot pushed away by Dreyer, but the onrushing Rabiot slid home a left-footed effort on the rebound.
At the other end, Kevin Trapp had to get out quickly to save from Babacar Gueye and Corentin Jean lashed the rebound into the side-netting, but Troyes were unable to reduce the deficit prior to half-time.
A rampant PSG made it 4-0 just 21 seconds into the second half when Ibrahimovic collected Cavani’s pass and fired left-footed beyond Dreyer.
It was five after 52 minutes after excellent wide play from Angel Di Maria on the left led to him crossing for Ibrahimovic and the forward stretched impressively to divert a right-footed volley into the bottom corner.
Ibrahimovic completed his treble three minutes later. This time it was Layvin Kurzawa who created the chance from the left and the Sweden striker guided a brilliant half-volley into the far corner from 20 yards for his 26th league goal of the campaign.
Another Kurzawa cross led to PSG’s seventh just before the hour, with Saunier’s miserable day at the office continuing as he inadvertently put the ball past Dreyer.
Trapp saved well from Jessy Pi, with Troyes unable to prevent the embarrassment from worsening when they had substitute Karaboue sent off for bringing down Cavani in the area as he bore down on goal.
The striker took the spot-kick himself and saw a poor effort from 12 yards saved by Dreyer, but converted the rebound to make it eight.
An unforgettable day for PSG, whose previous best result in Ligue 1 was a 6-0 romp against Guingamp last May, then saw them score a ninth with two minutes remaining when Pastore slipped through a pass for Ibrahimovic to fire home.
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