Ibrahimovic ruled out for four weeks

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be out of action for four weeks, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al Khelaifi has announced.

The forward pulled up in the 68th minute of his side's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Chelsea on Wednesday and was forced to be substituted, with test later confirming a hamstring problem.

PSG have now revealed the Sweden international will miss the second leg against the Blues as he will likely be sidelined for a month, with scans expected to confirm the severity of the injury tomorrow.

"It's an MRI [scan] at this time," Nasser Al Khelaifi told RMC. "We will have the result within half an hour, an hour.

"But he will need at least four weeks of rest. He won't play the next game against Chelsea."

As well as missing Tuesday's return leg at Stamford Bridge, the 32-year-old will also be unavailable for the Coupe de la Ligue final against Olympique Lyonnais on April 19.

Lucas Moura, who replaced Ibrahimovic against Chelsea, has been given a vote of confidence by Al Khelaifi, who has backed the Brazilian to step up in the Swede's absence.

"I think Zlatan is very important for the team, but Lucas is ready," he said.

Al Khelaifi went on to stress that Edinson Cavani will not leave the club this summer, despite the player hinting at a possible exit admid reported interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.

He added: "Cavani is very important for us, he is very professional, very generous on the field, he gives everything. I appreciate that.

"If he wants to change position, it is not his decision, it is that of the coach and he understands. He is a star of PSG. And of course he will stay with us next season."

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Ibrahimovic: I'll never move to England

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has ruled out moving to England and insists he will retire with no regrets over never playing in the Premier League.

Striker Ibrahimovic has played in Sweden, Holland, Italy, Spain and now France with Paris Saint-Germain.

But ahead of facing Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with PSG, 32-year-old Ibrahimovic dismissed the prospect of adding England to his list of countries.
“To come to England today is not a question that is brought up,” said Ibrahimovic. “I think, first of all, it's impossible to get me to England. If you ask the people behind this project, I don't think they'd let me go.

“And with my own thinking, when I went to Milan I was speaking to some English clubs, but it didn't end up with me coming to England. The day I stop football, I won't look back and think maybe I should have played in England.

“I have respect for the Premier League, a great competition with good individual players and I haven't been part of it... I've made stories in other countries. It's nothing that I regret.

“This is my last contract in Europe, so to win it I have to win the Champions League with Paris. The day I leave Paris, I either go down a level or quit football. I'm very happy.
“I have a contract until 2016 and, after that, I don't know the future. Maybe my mind is old. Maybe I'm tired. I don't know. It's far away from today.

“I'm very happy with this situation, how it is here. The club is doing an amazing job to become like the other European top clubs. I've seen big changes in the two years, developments on and off the field that I haven't seen elsewhere.

“The people behind this project aren't aiming low or medium. These people aim more than high. I'm happy to be part of this project and this development.”

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Ronaldo catches Suarez in European Golden Shoe standings

Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to the top of the European Golden Shoe standings following his two goals in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Celta de Vigo in La Liga on Monday evening.

The Portuguese attacker has now netted 20 goals in the Spanish top flight this term to move level with Liverpool forward Luis Suarez, who was not in Premier League action at the weekend.

Atletico Madrid star Diego Costa failed to find the net in his side's hard-fought 1-0 win over Malaga and has to settle for third spot for now.

Giuseppe Rossi sits fourth, but is unlikely to add to his tally any time soon after picking up a knee injury in Fiorentina's victory against Livorno.

French attacker Antoine Griezmann makes his first appearance in the top 10 after scoring once in Real Sociedad's 2-0 win over Bilbao.

Rank	Player	Country	Club	League	Weight	Goals	Points
1	C. Ronaldo	POR	Real Madrid	ESP	2	20 (+2)	40
=	Luis Suarez	URU	Liverpool	ENG	2	20	40
3	Diego Costa	ESP	Atletico Madrid	ESP	2	19	38
4	Giuseppe Rossi	ITA	Fiorentina	ITA	2	14	28
5	Nerijus Valskis *	LTU	Suduva	LTU	1	27	27
6	Sergio Aguero	ARG	Manchester City	ENG	2	13	26
7	Alfred Finnbogason	ISL	Heerenveen	NED	1.5	17	25.5
8	Antoine Griezmann	FRA	Real Sociedad	ESP	2	12 (+1)	24
9	Vladimir Voskoboinikov *	EST	Kalju Nomme	EST	1	23	23
10	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	SWE	Paris Saint-Germain	FRA	1.5	15	22.5
=	Marko Devic	UKR	Metalist Kharkiv	UKR	1.5	15	22.5
=	Philipp Zulechner	AUT	Grodig	AUT	1.5	15	22.5

History & How It Works

Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Diego Forlan have won the European Golden Shoe in the past few seasons, with the Argentina international as the latest winner of the award following his 46 goals in 2012-13.

Other noteworthy winners include the likes of Francesco Totti, Luca Toni, Ronaldo, Marco van Basten, Eusebio and Gerd Muller.

The weightings are determined by the league's ranking on the Uefa coefficients, which in turn depend on the results of each league's clubs in European competition over the previous five seasons. Goals scored in the top five leagues according to the Uefa coefficients are multiplied by a factor of two, and goals scored in the leagues ranked six to 21 are multiplied by 1.5. Goals in all other leagues are worth one single point.

This measure has prevented players from so-called weaker leagues from winning the European Golden Shoe, since a goal scored in, for example, Armenia, Estonia or Azerbaijan, carries less weight than a goal scored in Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga or the Premier League.

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Ibrahimovic: Santa Claus should win the Ballon d'Or

Paris Saint Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed he hopes Santa Claus wins the Ballon d'Or rather than the three high-profile contenders for the prize.

The Sweden international was touted as a potential winner of the prize himself before Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery were named on a three-man shortlist for the award, which will be presented to the winner on January 13.

Speaking to the press in Doha, Ibrahimovic joked: “The Ballon d’Or? For me, the three deserve to win it, but the one who must have it is Santa Claus.”

Ibrahimovic will come up against Ronaldo on Thursday as Paris Saint-Germain play Real Madrid in a exhibition match in Qatar and the 32-year-old spoke about his plans for the future with les Parisiens.

He said: “Yes, it’s an option for me to finish in Paris and we’ll see what happens in the future.

“I’m never fully satisfied. The team progresses, the club has made a leap in a short time, but we must continue to work. We have great qualities and I am optimistic for the future,” he added.

Thursday’s friendly will see Blancos coach Carlo Ancelotti face his former club, but the Swede said he was looking forward to seeing his old coach.

“We’ll see Carlo Ancelotti, who was at the initiative of the new Parisian project and he left his mark. He pulled the group and the club up. He is a great coach, and I was happy to work with him at Paris and I wish him the best in Madrid.”

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Ibrahimovic: I did not applaud Ronaldo

Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic has insisted that he did not applaud Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo after the latter completed his hat-trick in Tuesday's World Cup qualification win.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker was seen clapping his hands after Ronaldo scored his third goal of the game to effectively end Sweden's World Cup ambitions, but Ibrahimovic has stressed that he was simply attempting to rouse his team-mates rather than show the Madrid man his appreciation.

"Was I applauding Ronaldo? No, I was just trying to encourage my team-mates," Ibrahimovic told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I clapped my hands to cheer them up and motivate them for the last few minutes.

"We had already gone down before. It is important not to give up until the final whistle because the unexpected can always happen."

The PSG striker did confess his admiration for the 28-year-old's prowess on the counterattack but insisted his own side's defensive lapses made life easy for the Madrid man.

"He's obviously a great player, but we allowed him way too much space. Nobody's as good as he is on the counterattack. This game once more showed his biggest qualities," added Ibrahimovic.

"Is he the best player in the world? I can only say that he scored one goal more than I did."

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Ibra : World Cup is nothing without me

Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has made a startling assertion that the 2014 World Cup will not be worth watching following his side's elimination from the play-offs because he will not be there.

Ibrahimovic could not prevent his side's hopes of making it to Brazil from being dashed despite scoring a double, as Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show with an outstanding hat-trick to win the match for Portugal in the second leg play-off 3-2 (4-2 on aggregate).

The 32-year-old, who admits it might be his last attempt to reach a World Cup, says the major tournament being held next June will not be worth following now that he will not be involved.

"It was probably the last attempt to reach the World Cup with the national team for me. One thing is for sure, a World Cup without me is nothing to watch so it is not worth while to wait for the World Cup," he said to his app Zlatan unplugged.

"Congratulations to Portugal, but both teams deserved to get to the World Cup.

"The disappointment of course is great now that the World Cup in Brazil will remain a dream for the Swedish national team."

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