Paris Saint-Germain defeated Olympique de Marseille 4-0 at the Parc des Princes on Sunday to claim their fifth consecutive Le Classique victory over their rivals and remain undefeated against OM since November of 2011.
Playing a major role in the win was striker Mauro Icardi who continues to impress since arriving last summer on loan from Inter Milan.
The Argentine has scored four goals in Ligue 1 in as many appearances and has three goals in the UEFA Champions League, including the match-winner in Istanbul against Galatasaray S.K. It’s safe to say that Icardi is feeling at home in the French capital with his new teammates.
After the win over Marseille, Icardi spoke to Canal+ (via France24) and took a subtle jab at his former club even if he didn’t mean to at the time.
“Coming to PSG, I knew I would have to score goals. That is what I have always done and that is what I wanted to do here [PSG], Icardi said. “I have played with some really great players but this is clearly the best team I have played in.”
#PSGOM #LeClassique @MauroIcardi pic.twitter.com/0PSSsGvYtx
— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) October 28, 2019
That last part probably won’t sit well with Inter Milan as Icardi is still technically their player. You don’t often hear players on loan talk about how much better their current team is but given Icardi’s troubles at Inter, it may explain the comment.
Icardi was stripped of the captaincy in February of 2019 after his wife, Wanda Nara, made disparaging comments about Inter Milan’s management as reported by ESPN. The Argentine didn’t play for Inter over the span of 53 days and he was eventually loaned to PSG the following summer on transfer deadline day per The Guardian.
PSG can sign Icardi permanently at the end of the season for €70 million thanks to an “option to buy clause” in the terms of the loan according to Marca. That’s a very reasonable figure for a 26-year-old striker in his prime.
Some called PSG “losers” of the summer transfer window (Bleacher Report) for bringing Icardi into a team with Neymar Jr. already causing trouble by trying to force a transfer to FC Barcelona. So far this season though, the decision to sign Icardi on loan and keep Neymar has worked out better than most predicted even with the Brazilian’s current injury status.
Icardi has been so good, in fact, that sporting director Leonardo is already thinking about making the Argentine the heir apparent to Edinson Cavani as reported by Diario AS.
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