Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday brushed off the absence of Neymar to ease into the Coupe de la Ligue quarter-finals with a 4-2 victory at Strasbourg.
The Ligue 1 leaders gained a measure of revenge for their shock 2-1 league defeat by Strasbourg less than two weeks ago as they started their bid for a fifth straight Coupe de la Ligue title.
PSG will take on Amiens SC in the last eight, after the newly promoted top-flight club edged out second-tier Tours 2-1.
“We needed to improve from the league game and the team was more focused from the start,” PSG coach Unai Emery said. “Maybe we could have scored more goals and played better after it went to 4-2, but we are still happy.”
With Neymar having only just returned from a visit to his native Brazil, Emery opted to play Edinson Cavani up front on his own with Kylian Mbappe on the bench.
Home hopes of a repeat performance for Strasbourg were dashed in only the 12th minute, as Yoann Salmier sliced Angel di Maria’s cross into his own net.
Argentina international Di Maria made it two midway through the first half, capitalizing on a goalkeeping error by Alexandre Oukidja to slot in his fourth goal of the season.
However, Strasbourg pulled one back before halftime against the run of play as midfielder Jeremy Grimm, who has been with the club throughout their rise from the third tier, slotted into the corner.
The hosts battled hard in the second period, but their resistance was finally ended when Thomas Meunier crossed for fellow fullback Dani Alves to tap in from close range.
Germany international Julian Draxler impressed in a three-man attacking midfield alongside Di Maria and Javier Pastore, and drilled in to end a nine-game goal drought for club and country.
Jeremy Blayac came off the bench to score a late consolation for Strasbourg, but PSG had long since secured their place in the quarters.
Elsewhere, a much-changed Olympique Lyonnais were stunned in a 4-1 defeat at Montpellier Herault, despite taking a 10th-minute lead through teenager Myziane Maolida, as Souleymane Camara scored twice for the hosts.
OGC Nice goalkeeper Yoan Cardinale was the hero as Lucien Favre’s men edged past managerless Lille OSC on penalties after Mario Balotelli had rescued a 1-1 draw for the visitors.
AS Monaco are to be Nice’s last-eight opponents, after the principality outfit saw off Stade Malherbe Caen on Tuesday.
Stade Rennais beat Olympique de Marseille in a penalty shoot-out after an entertaining 2-2 draw at Roazhon Park, where Kostas Mitroglou and Valere Germain scored for the visitors, but to no avail.
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
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
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
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