Paris Saint-Germain 3 Lyon 0: Ibrahimovic fires holders into last eight
Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a brace as Paris Saint-Germain maintained their unbeaten domestic run in routine fashion by beating Lyon 3-0 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France.
Laurent Blanc’s men, who have not lost a domestic game since a 3-2 Ligue 1 defeat to Bordeaux in March, remain on course for a quadruple, having won the domestic treble last campaign.
Possessing a 24-point lead at the top of the league, the Champions League will be seen as PSG’s priority. However – despite missing Marco Verratti, Javier Pastore and Gregory van der Wiel through injury – they still produced an impressive display of their squad depth to swat aside Lyon.
And it was talisman Ibrahimovic who unsurprisingly played a key role in sending PSG through to the last eight, converting a Lucas Moura cross to give the hosts the lead in the 62nd minute at Parc des Princes.
Ibrahimovic then made it 2-0 with a simple finish in the 67th minute before being brought off as Blanc looks to preserve his players’ energy ahead of a league clash with Lille and next week’s meeting with Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Despite his withdrawal PSG had little trouble splitting open the Lyon defence again as midfielder Adrien Rabiot added a third 15 minutes from time, albeit from what appeared to be an offside position.
A mix-up between Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes and defender Bakari Kone in the 19th minute presented PSG with the game’s first opportunity.
Lopes and Kone collided after both going for the same ball but PSG were unable to capitalise as Ibrahimovic’s volley was headed clear by Christophe Jallet.
Edinson Cavani spurned the best chance of the half in the 31st minute, firing wide from close range having been played through by Lucas.
Lyon had offered little threat in the opening 45 minutes but forced PSG keeper Salvatore Sirigu into action eight minutes later, the Italian turning Maxwel Cornet’s curling effort behind.
Ibrahimovic lashed narrowly off target after combining with Lucas nine minutes after the restart but was soon celebrating opening the scoring as he got on the end of more fine play from the winger.
The Brazil international surged down the left and produced an excellent cross with the outside of his boot for Ibrahimovic to chest into the back of the net from point-blank range.
And the Sweden striker doubled PSG’s lead just five minutes later, Lucas involved again as he found Serge Aurier on the overlap, with Ibrahimovic timing his run to perfection to tap in the right-back’s low delivery.
Angel Di Maria was immediately brought on for Ibrahimovic before Rabiot turned Maxwell’s cross from the left wing in off the post, the assistant referee failing to raise his flag.
David Luiz – who refused to be taken off in the win over Marseille at the weekend – was introduced as a late substitute, with his compatriot Lucas then hitting the post from a Di Maria ball as PSG kept alive hopes of winning the competition for a 10th time.
