Zlatan Ibrahimovic can expect to face further scrutiny when Paris St Germain attempt to reach the Champions League semi-finals next week after the Swedish striker struggled to shine in a 2-2 home draw against Manchester City on Wednesday.
The outspoken forward said recently that PSG did not exist before Qatar Sports Investment took over the year before he joined them in 2012, conveniently forgetting that the French club reached the last four of the competition in 1995.
After Wednesday’s lacklustre first leg performance, PSG appear closer to a fourth consecutive quarter-final exit than a maiden semi-final spot under their wealthy Qatari owners and Ibrahimovic is partially to blame for the predicament.
With the tie still scoreless, Ibrahimovic saw his 14th-minute penalty well saved by Joe Hart and shortly afterwards, curled a shot over the bar when he was clean through with only the City keeper to beat.
“We made unusual mistakes,” coach Laurent Blanc told reporters.
Ibrahimovic, who had not missed a penalty since Sept. 2013, admitted he could have done more to help his side, despite pouncing on a defensive error to level the score at 1-1.
“We made avoidable mistakes,” said Ibrahimovic, who has scored 30 goals this season. “There was this penalty that I missed, that’s the way it is.”
Ibrahimovic has played for Ajax, AC Milan, Inter, Juventus and Barcelona yet remains without a Champions League triumph as the 34-year-old continues to find the latter stages of Europe’s elite club competition a tough nut to crack.
Last year, he missed the first leg of the quarter-finals against Barcelona trough injury and could do nothing to prevent the Spaniards from cantering to a 2-0 win in the second.
The previous season, he missed the second leg through injury as Chelsea won 2-0 to advance on away goals after Ibrahimovic failed to score in their 3-1 win at home.
In 2013, he scored in the 2-2 drawn first leg against Barcelona but did not add to his tally in a 1-1 draw in the return fixture at the Nou Camp.
Next Tuesday, he will have another chance to prove his worth in a do-or-die situation for a side he is leaving at the end of the season with the Swede all too aware that he is running out of time to add the Champions League to his many other accolades.
“We don’t have a choice, we’ll have to win in the second leg but maybe that’s the best thing that could happen to us,” club president Nasser al-Khelaifi told reporters.
PSG will again have to do without injured midfield pair Marco Verratti and Javier Pastore for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, coach Laurent Blanc said.
“They will not be there,” said Blanc on Wednesday when asked about the chances of having either player back for next week’s trip to England.
Blanc’s side will also be without David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi through suspension for the return at the Etihad Stadium next Tuesday after both players were booked at the Parc des Princes.

City must cut out mistakes, says Pellegrini
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini admitted his side must not repeat the defensive errors that marred their Champions League quarter-final, first leg with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday despite the 2-2 draw giving them the edge.
Away goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho at the Parc des Princes mean City have the upper hand ahead of next Tuesday’s return, but those strikes sandwiched a farcical goal gifted to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and an Adrien Rabiot effort for PSG. The French champions also saw Ibrahimovic have a penalty saved by Joe Hart early on with the game still goalless, so the evening could have gone far worse for Pellegrini’s men. “In the first half we made an important mistake that we cannot continue to do if we want to stay in the competition,” said Pellegrini of the awful mix-up between Hart and Fernando that allowed Ibrahimovic to score.  
“The second goal of PSG was offside. It was not a mistake of the defence but of the linesman.  “But it is important also to keep that mentality because when you receive the goal that we conceded in the last minute of the first half and then you concede a goal that is offside, it is not easy to try to recover, but I think this team has the personality and they believe in what they do. “They always try to attack and we scored the second goal.” Nevertheless, Pellegrini refused to label his side as the favourites to advance now as City eye a first ever Champions League semi-final and the Chilean also said it was “very difficult to answer now” if captain Vincent Kompany will be back in time for the second leg in six days.
 
Selection headache
However, his opposite number Laurent Blanc is left with a selection headache for the return after both David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi picked up bookings that mean they will be suspended for the second leg. Marco Verratti and Javier Pastore will also miss the game due to the injuries that prevented them from featuring in Paris as PSG go to England having to overcome the handicap of those away goals.
“It’s not the first time we have conceded goals at home but we have shown that we can score goals away from home,” said Blanc, whose side eliminated Chelsea in the last 16.
“I think if we can do better defensively we can create chances and score goals in Manchester.”
He added: “When you talk about the two players who will be suspended you can add that to the negatives tonight.