PSG shrug off Ibrahimovic injury to sink Bastia
PARIS (Reuters) - Paris St Germain shrugged off the early loss of talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Saturday to record their first Ligue 1 victory of the campaign by 2-0 against Bastia in a game overshadowed by an alleged headbutt.
The Sweden striker, last season's Ligue 1 Player of the Year, was forced off with a side injury after 15 minutes but Laurent Blanc's team still managed to control the game.
Blanc told reporters the injury was something of a mystery because Ibrahimovic had not appeared to receive a knock.
David Luiz played the full 90 minutes in his first competitive match since joining French champions PSG from Chelsea in June for an estimated 50 million pounds, making him the world's most expensive defender.
Luiz's fellow Brazilian Lucas Moura opened the scoring after 26 minutes when he pounced on a cross from Gregory van der Wiel and made no mistake from three metres.
Edinson Cavani looked sharp in attack throughout and made it 2-0 after 57 minutes, taking a pass near the penalty spot with his back to goal and swivelling gracefully to score and give PSG four points from their first two games of the season.
Paris police stepped up security for the match after 44 officers were injured in clashes with supporters at last weekend's match between Bastia and Olympique de Marseille.
When Saturday's game finished, TV cameras showed players and security personnel milling around the tunnel as blood poured from Italy midfielder Thiago Motta's nose following an apparent headbutt from Bastia's Brazilian-born French striker Brandao.
Nasser al-Khelaifi, president of the French champions, told a Canal Plus TV reporter that his club would be registering a complaint against Brandao.
Al-Khelaifi added that the Brazilian should be "suspended for life... he is not a football player".
(Reporting by Andrew Callus, editing by Tony Jimenez)
