Paris: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice while David Beckham produced an emotional Parc des Princes farewell as Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain beat bottom club Stade Brest 3-1 on a memorable night on Saturday.
Sweden striker Ibrahimovic took his league tally this season to 29 goals, a personal best.
Former France forward Jean-Pierre Papin was the last player to hit 30 Ligue 1 goals in a season, for Olympique Marseille in 1989-90.
Ex-England skipper Beckham, who will retire at the end of the season, broke down in tears when he was substituted by Ezequiel Lavezzi in the 81st minute.
Beckham, who was named skipper against Brest, was hugged by his team mates as he left the pitch to a standing ovation having set up Blaise Matuidi for the second goal.
It was the former Manchester United midfielder's 10th league appearance for PSG and it is not yet clear whether he will take part in the last game of the season at Lorient next weekend.
Beckham was the second-last player to get to the centre of the pitch where the players and staff were presented with the league trophy.
'Hello, Goodbye', a Beatles song, was played over the public address system as a film showed highlights of his time at the club before Beckham walked towards the podium with a St George's flag wrapped round his shoulders.
"I want to say thank you to everybody in Paris, to my team mates, to the staff, to the fans," said the 38-year-old former Real Madrid and Los Angeles Galaxy player. "To finish my career here could not be any more special.
"I want to enjoy my family now, I have all the souvenirs I want now so I'm very, very happy. Merci Paris. I'm very sad to be leaving but thank you."
On Monday, title celebrations on the streets of Paris turned sour when 30 people were injured in clashes between fans and police in the west of the French capital but the atmosphere was good against relegated Brest.
No comments:
Post a Comment