Player Focus: Cavani & Ibra Still Searching for Common Ground

In the build-up to Paris Saint-Germain’s top-of-the-table clash with Monaco, the elephant in the room couldn’t be ignored – and their frequently blunt coach Laurent Blanc was never likely to. “Things aren’t going so badly between Cavani and Ibra,” he said on the Friday before the game. “They have to get to know each other better still, on the pitch and in the dressing room.”

It is not inconceivable that Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic could become the deadliest strike partnership on the planet, given their respective history as club icons and their potential compatibility; Cavani as the matador, with Zlatan directing operations from in the hole. In terms of status and personality it is, however, pretty clear who will have to adapt to whom. “In terms of his relationship with the group,” former Napoli midfielder Hassan Yebda said of Cavani, “he’s not much of an extrovert. But on the pitch, he’s a true leader.”

On Sunday night, there was only one leader for PSG against Claudio Ranieri’s side, and it wasn’t Cavani. On the big occasion, the message was written loud and clear across the Parisian night sky – Zlatan is still the man, because that’s just the way it is here. From the 5th minute, when he applied the finishing touch to a Maxwell cross, Ibrahimovic carried the team’s hopes on his shoulders. As with many of his most eye-catching performances down the years, his style suggested that he simply does not do partnership.

Everything in attack went through PSG’s Swedish talisman. Ibrahimovic had 61 touches, more than anyone in the home side’s line-up outside their dominant midfield three of Marco Verratti (90), Thiago Motta (80) and Blaise Matuidi (63). He had more than twice as many as Cavani, who had only 26 touches across the whole 90-plus minutes.

The new boy from Napoli might be the most expensive player in Ligue 1 history, but he has quickly understood the nature of the existing hierarchy at the Parc des Princes. Of Cavani’s 92 accurate passes in the league so far, Ibrahimovic has received 10 (10.9%). Only Motta has received the ball more from Cavani (16 times).

The relationship is not necessarily reciprocal, at least not yet. 17 of Ibrahimovic’s 181 successful passes have gone to Cavani, a comparable 9.4% - but then you consider that he has passed more to Javier Pastore and Verratti (with whom he feels a technical wavelength) and mostly to Matuidi (21), who is the lungs of the team.

Ibrahimovic had eight shots (two on target), the most he’s had in any game this season bar the extraordinary stalemate with Ajaccio, in which PSG had 37 shots in a 1-1 draw, 10 of which were his. He has changed since he’s been in Paris, becoming more of a responsible, guiding senior player than the wildman of (at least partly self-perpetuated) legend. Yet on the field, Ibrahimovic’s idea of taking responsibility is by simply doing everything. After all, that’s what’s been expected of him most of the way through his career.

Left to fend for himself on the right-hand side, Cavani got six shots off, but not a single one was on target. To create genuinely good opportunities, Cavani needs Ibrahimovic’s help. Two of the former’s three goals so far for his new club have been a direct result of the latter’s handiwork; the through ball at Nantes which created Cavani’s opener, and the defence-splitter at Olympiacos which Maxwell squared for Cavani to tap into an empty net.

Perhaps the real answer to getting the best out of Cavani is his former Napoli teammate, Ezequiel Lavezzi. In the two seasons the pair spent alongside one another at the Stadio San Paolo, Lavezzi delivered the final pass for seven of Cavani’s goals, while the Uruguayan returned the compliment four times.

Blanc is certainly considering the advantages of such a set-up. Having moved away from Carlo Ancelotti’s 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 for the Nantes game, he has stuck with it. Even after a first PSG goal in the previous Ligue 1 game at Bordeaux, Lucas Moura dropped to the bench to accommodate Lavezzi for the visit of Monaco. Although the Brazilian was said to be carrying a minor back injury, he expressed his frustration at starting the game as a substitute to journalists after the game, having played for the final half-hour.

When it was Lavezzi rather than Cavani who was chosen to make way for Lucas, it was predictable, but not especially fair. El Pocho had 41 touches, significantly more than Cavani eventually managed in 50% more playing time, and delivered four key passes, more than anyone else in PSG’s ranks, including Ibrahimovic (two). It was little wonder that Lavezzi looked crestfallen as he reluctantly jogged to the touchline to be replaced.

Leonardo, the key broker behind the Cavani deal in his last bit of work for the club, may be gone but the belief within the corridors at the Camp des Loges is that the record signing and the star man can, will, must find a way to work together. It may be much to the chagrin of Lavezzi and Lucas, two fine performers who stand to at least intermittently lose out, but it is the way of things.

Others can create chances for Cavani. Matuidi and Lucas did just that in the dying moments, but Andrea Raggi got across to block the first effort and the second, a header, skimmed the side netting. Had Ibrahimovic and he sparked one another throughout the game, Cavani might have been sharp enough to take one or both chances.

PSG have to believe the understanding will come. Ibrahimovic’s altruistic side is undeniable. While mostly heralded for his 30 Ligue 1 goals last season, he was also the top assist provider in the Champions League, with seven. Yet in Europe’s major leagues, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Balotelli average more shots per game than Ibrahimovic (six). He wants to do it all, and he won’t change. It is up to Cavani to adapt, because he has far more to lose than Ibrahimovic if he doesn’t.

Will Cavani and Ibrahimovic come good? Let us know your thoughts on the pairing in the comments below.