French Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Evian Thonon Gaillard

Paris St Germain sounded a warning shot to their Ligue 1 title rivals with a comprehensive dismantling of lowly Evian this afternoon.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one and made one for Ezequiel Lavezzi as the hosts raced into a 2-0 lead after half an hour, while Thiago Motta and Kevin Gameiro added gloss to the scoreline late on as Carlo Ancelotti's men closed to within two points of leaders Lyon.

The capital club advanced to the knockout stages of the Champions League earlier this week but they had won just one of their past five league fixtures before today and badly needed a positive result to reignite their stuttering title bid.

Ibrahimovic served an early warning of his goalscoring threat - were any needed - when he flashed an acrobatic effort wide of the right post in the 19th minute.

The Sweden international did not have to wait much longer to make the breakthrough, 28 minutes showing on the clock when he expertly drilled home his 14th league goal of the season after latching onto Christophe Jallet pass.

Three minutes later the hosts doubled their lead as Jeremy Menez picked out Ibrahimovic who chested down for Lavezzi to take a touch before unleashing a powerful finish.

The one-way traffic continued after the break with Ibrahimovic seeing a fierce 63rd-minute effort slam against the woodwork.

PSG's frustration at failing to turn their dominance into more goals almost cost them when an error in defence gifted Saber Khelifa a shooting chance but the Tunisian's effort lacked conviction.

Olivier Sorlin flashed an effort wide in the 80th minute as Evian briefly threatened again, but the game was finally settled four minutes later when Javier Pastore crossed for Motta to drill home right-footed from the penalty spot.

And with three minutes remaining the scoring was complete as Ibrahimovic played a one-two with Menez before providing a pinpoint cross that Gameiro steered into the net.