The 2012–13 season was

Paris Saint-Germain Football Club Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...

's 43rd in existence and their 40th in the top-flight of

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

. The team competed in Ligue 1, the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, the Coupe de la Ligue and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Reinforced by new stars

Ezequiel Lavezzi Ezequiel Iván Lavezzi (; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, his most important attributes were his pace, hardworking style of play, technique, creativity, and dribbling ab ...

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

and

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional Association Football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and captains the Brazil national football team, Brazil national team. Con ...

, PSG warmed up for the 2012–13 season with the aim of winning the league crown that dramatically eluded the club the previous year. Paris began at home to

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

at the Parc des Princes. ''Les Merlus'' caused Paris plenty of problems and the match ended 2–2 thanks to Ibrahimović's first brace of the season. The PSG squad took a little time to get going and after three consecutive draws, ''Les Parisiens'' recorded their first victory in matchweek 4. It was in the north of France that Paris finally launched their campaign against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

and a 2–1 victory featuring another double from Ibrahimović. Another three points followed against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

(2–0), before it was time for the

. After nearly a decade's absence, PSG marked their return to Europe's premier club competition with a resounding 4–1 victory over

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

. Buoyed by their continental success, the capital club recorded their largest ever away win with a 4–0 demolition of

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

before defeating Sochaux-Montbéliard 2–0, in a perfect month of September. October began less well with a late 1–0 defeat away to

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. Then it was time to travel to the Stade Vélodrome for

Le Classique Le Classique (, The Classic) is the rivalry between French professional football clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. The duo are the two most successful clubs in French football, and the only French teams to have won major Eur ...

against Olympique de Marseille. Inspired, Zlatan netted two more remarkable goals as the match ended 2-2. It got even better as Stade de Reims,

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

, Nancy and Marseille, this time in the Coupe de la Ligue, all fell to Paris. The first defeat of the campaign came soon after, 2–1, to Saint-Étienne. It marked the start of a difficult month of November for the side from the French capital. A festive December started in style with a 2–1 win over Porto which saw Paris clinch top spot in Group A of the Champions League. Next up came

Evian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

(4-0),

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

(0–4) and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

(1–0); all fell victim to the high-flying ''Les Rouge-et-Bleu''. A comprehensive 3-0 win over

Stade Brest Stade Brestois 29 or simply Brest, is a French football club based in Brest. It was founded in 1950 following the merger of five local patronages, including Armoricaine de Brest, founded in 1903. In its early years, the club made a rapid rise ...

in the final match of the calendar year saw PSG secure the honorary title of autumn champions. 2013 began with new Brazilian signing

Lucas Moura Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva (born 13 August 1992), known as Lucas Moura (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger and forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Moura started his professional career at São P ...

meeting his new teammates. The return to competition wasn't easy with a tough and slender 4–3 win over Arras in the

. After a scoreless draw with

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccio ( co, Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ''ACA'' or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and ...

, Paris stepped up a gear with wins over

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, Toulouse in the Coupe de France and Lille. The run of matches saw goalkeeper

Salvatore Sirigu Salvatore Sirigu (, ; born 12 January 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina and the Italy national team. Sirigu began his career with Venezia, and then Palermo. In 2011, he moved to Paris Sa ...

set a new club record for longest run without conceding a goal, surpassing the previous time set by the legendary

Bernard Lama Bernard Pascal Maurice Lama (born 7 April 1963) is a French football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He spent a large part of his career at Paris Saint-Germain. He was also a member of the France national team ...

. PSG then produced a huge surprise for their supporters by announcing the signature of David Beckham on the final day of the winter transfer window. The arrival of the English superstar saw the club continue on its winning ways with a 4–0 triumph over Toulouse followed by a 3–1 win over Bastia before the last 16 of the Champions League. Away to Spanish giants

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in the first leg, Paris run out 2–1 winners. The return to domestic action proved a little less convincing with a 3–2 upset at the hands of Sochaux. The reaction was immediate. As Beckham debuted in his new colours, Paris recorded back to back 2–0 home wins against arch-rivals Marseille, firstly in the league and then in the Coupe de France. Paris confirmed their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1–1 draw at home to Valencia. Despite hiccups against Reims (0–1) and Saint-Étienne (2–2), Paris continued to set the pace at the top of the ladder with victories over Nancy, 2–1, and defending champions Montpellier, 1–0. Then came one of the highlights of the season with the quarter-final of the Champions League against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. And the match lived up to the hype with

Blaise Matuidi Blaise Matuidi (born 9 April 1987) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He most notably played for Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, and the France national team. Matuidi began his football career playing for ...

scoring in the last minute to secure a thrilling 2–2 draw at the Parc des Princes. PSG warmed up for the return match against the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

outfit with a 2–0 victory over Rennes in Ligue 1. Then, at the Camp Nou,

Javier Pastore Javier Matías Pastore (; born 20 June 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Qatar SC. Pastore began his club career with Talleres and then Huracán in his native Argentina before moving to Se ...

opened the scoring for

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

's players, only to be eliminated on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, mean ...

’s equaliser. ''Les Rouges et Bleu'' bounced back with a 1–0 win over Troyes before quarter-final exits in both the Coupe de la Ligue and the Coupe de France. The players just had to focus on the Ligue 1 title and they did so with a 3–0 victory over

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

before avenging their cup exit with a 1–0 win of their own away to Evian. In the end, a 1–0 win away to Lyon secured the club's first Ligue 1 title in 19 years, and third overall.

Jérémy Ménez Jérémy Ménez (born 7 May 1987) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian Serie B club Reggina. Ménez has been described as an ambipedal, technically skilled, pacy playmaker. Ménez began his career spending t ...

struck the goal that sent Paris into rapture. The penultimate match of the season saw a 3–1 win over Brest at the Parc des Princes, followed by the official presentation of the Ligue 1 trophy. It also marked the final match of David Beckham's playing career. The final match of the season saw the newly-crowned 2013 champions end with a win over Lorient as Zlatan Ibrahimović received his Golden Boot trophy for Ligue 1 top scorer with 30 goals.

Players

:''Players, transfers, appearances and goals - 2012/2013 season.''

First-team squad

Out on loan

Transfers in

(€26.5 million) (€42 million) (undisclosed) (€21 million) (€6 million) (€45 million) (undisclosed)

Transfers out

Appearances and goals

Competitions

Ligue 1

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

Coupe de France

Coupe de la Ligue

UEFA Champions League

Group stage

Knockout phase

=Round of 16

=Quarter-finals

References

External links

PSG.fr – Site officielParis Saint-Germain
at LFP
Paris Saint-Germain
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Paris Saint-Germain
at FIFA {{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Paris Saint-Germain F.C. season Paris Saint-Germain F.C. seasons

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

French football championship-winning seasons