Paris Saint-Germain sent a clear warning to their title rivals Monaco after brushing them aside 4-1 at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais and in the process, won the French League Cup for the fourth time in a row.
This win by PSG is also their seventh overall, the highest for any French team by a distance with no other team having lifted the trophy more than thrice.
PSG opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Angel Di Maria broke through the Monaco defence and squared the ball to Julian Draxler to tap into an empty net. The goal stood even though replays showed that the German was fractionally offside.
Monaco levelled it on the stroke of the half hour mark as Bernardo Silva’s brilliant chipped ball found Djibril Sidibe who passed it to Thomas Lemar, who sweetly struck it into the far corner giving Kevin Trapp no chance. The French international now has 12 goals in all competitions.
Draxler then returned the favour as PSG broke away with speed and the German fed the ball to an unmarked Di Maria who slotted it home to give the defending champions the lead once again.
Marco Veratti then teed up Cavani with an exquisite pass with the outside of his boot as the Uruguayan lashed home the volley for the goal of the night past a hapless Danijel Subasic. Cavani then wrapped up the scoring with his 40th goal of the season as it was Di Maria once again who stole the ball on the left and dinked in a pinpoint cross to the striker, who buried it via the crossbar.
The win gives some amount of relief to PSG manager Unai Emery, whose job has come under immense scrutiny after his side’s 6-1 loss to Barcelona. Leonardo Jardim’s men are still fighting for the Champions League and the French league title and while this will be a setback, Monaco are still leading PSG by five points at the top of the league.
