Paris Saint-Germain remain on course for a domestic treble after beating AS Monaco 2-0 to reach the Coupe de France semi-finals on Wednesday.
Former Chelsea player David Luiz gave PSG the lead in the third minute and striker Edinson Cavani grabbed his 18th goal of the season to make it 2-0 after 52 minutes.
The teams had met in the French league on Sunday, when PSG missed a glut of chances in a 0-0 draw which only served to highlight the absence of top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic — who missed both games against Monaco through suspension.
Photo: AFP
PSG, who are second in Ligue 1 and through to the Coupe de la Ligue final, join fellow first-division side AS Saint-Etienne in the semis.
“What counts is winning them and we’ll do the sums at the end of the season,” Luiz said. “But we’re taking things step by step.”
PSG are also involved in the Champions League and travel to London next week to take on Chelsea in the return leg of their round-of-16 match, with the score at 1-1 after the first leg.
“We need to win our games, to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League,” Pastore said. “We showed a lot of conviction against Monaco and we created a lot of chances tonight.”
AS Saint-Etienne beat third-tier US Boulogne-sur-Mer 4-3 on penalties in a shootout on Tuesday.
After Luiz headed in Ezequiel Lavezzi’s free-kick, PSG survived a scare in the 20th minute when Burkina Faso midfielder Alain Traore’s powerful strike came back off the crossbar.
Monaco also got a reprieve midway through the first half when Javier Pastore’s header glanced off the bar.
“It’s disappointing because we always play to win,” said Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim, who was without three of his best centerbacks.
“We had several defenders missing and we paid the price for it. PSG’s win was logical. Seeing as it was our third game in a week, I had to make decisions with regards to preventing further injuries,” he added.
After Pastore again went close for PSG, Cavani latched onto a fine a pass from midfielder Marco Verratti, controlled the ball well and fired a low shot past Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
Then, within the space of a minute, Pastore — who missed good chances against Monaco on Sunday night — and Cavani both hit the post.
Pastore’s woeful finishing was evident again, when a minute after hitting the woodwork, he missed the target from close range and then saw another effort saved by Stekelenburg right before the end.
Also Wednesday, striker Clarck Nsikulu scored the only goal as Evian Thonon Gaillard beat Lorient 1-0 at home in Ligue 1 to move three points clear of the relegation zone.
Lorient, who dropped to 17th place and are one point and one place behind Evian, had a penalty claim waved away when fullback Youssouf Sabaly appeared to foul striker Jordan Ayew.
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