French League Cup holders Paris Saint-Germain moved to within one win of retaining the trophy as a first-half goal from defender Maxwell gave them a 1-0 semi-final victory at LOSC Lille Metropole on Tuesday.
The French champions dominated affairs with the bulk of possession and mustered the only goal of the match on 27 minutes when Brazilian fullback Maxwell blasted a fierce shot into the corner leaving Lille’s Nigerian ’keeper Vincent Enyeama no chance.
The joy at reaching the final was tempered somewhat as after the game PSG’s star player Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic tried to persuade several of his teammates to ignore the waiting press.
Photo: AFP
“Follow me follow me. Nobody talks. Zlatan is the boss,” Ibrahimovic said in English as he led a group comprising, among others, Maxwell, Edinson Cavani and Brazilian Lucas out of the dressing room.
While a smiling Ibrahimovic progressed serenely through the mixed zone, Brazilian star Lucas disobeyed and stopped to speak with the press, speaking in Portuguese. Laurent Blanc’s side will play either Monaco or Bastia, who were to meet at the Louis II stadium yesterday, in the April 11 final at the Stade de France.
“We’re the Cup holders and we had the heart to defend that,” Blanc said. “We had to win here [Lille] first and that’s done, but what pleases me most is not only the victory, but also what we offered against a team that really dug in.”
“We didn’t give them hope, even if the score was only 1-0, and my team played some really good stuff, which will serve us in good stead for the future, but we still have to progress,” the former Bordeaux and France coach added.
The victory keeps PSG on track for a quartet of trophies with a Champions League last-16 tie against Chelsea on Feb. 17 and a last-16 French Cup fixture against Nantes lying ahead. The capital club also have the chance to go top of Ligue 1 on Sunday when they attempt to overturn a two point deficit on Lyon when the teams meet at the Stade Gerland.
“We have a lot of matches and it’s going to be a marathon, but let’s hope it continues as long as possible. I hope that March will be complicated and the marathon continues into April and May which will mean we’re advancing in all competitions,” Blanc said.
Rene Girard’s Lille side were out of their depth against the star-studded PSG lineup who put a first choice team out including Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Thiago Silva and David Luiz. The hosts hardly conjured up a second half opportunity as reserve ’keeper Nicolas Douchez, standing in for Salvatore Sirigu, enjoyed a relaxed evening in the away goal.
Lucas and Cavani played a role in the winner, with the Uruguayan marksman sliding the ball across to Maxwell, who made no mistake from the edge of the penalty box.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS