Icardi fires PSG into French Cup semis, Monaco beat Lyon

PARIS: Striker Mauro Icardi scored a hat-trick as Paris St Germain eased into the French Cup semi-finals with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Angers and AS Monaco joined them with a 2-0 win over 10-man Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday (Apr 21).

Icardi’s early strike for PSG was followed by an own goal from Angers defender Vincent Manceau and a simple headed third from Neymar in the second half, before the Argentine striker added two more.

The defending champions, who have appeared in the last six French Cup finals, winning five, hit the front inside nine minutes with an excellent team goal that was finished by Icardi from Julian Draxler’s pin-point through ball.

There was good fortune about the second as Neymar’s shot from close-range hit goalkeeper Ludovic Butelle, before rebounding onto Manceau and back into the net.

Neymar headed in from close range before a brilliant run in the box from Angel Di Maria put a second on a plate for Icardi, who then added another late on for his fifth goal in the last three games.

Lyon dominated the first half against visitors Monaco but were held scoreless, and the game slipped from their grasp early in the second period.

Lyon’s Maxwel Cornet had a goal correctly ruled out for offside, before Sinaly Diomande was sent off for a second bookable offense for his role in giving away a penalty.

Wissam Ben Yedder converted from the spot for Monaco and set up Kevin Volland for a thunderous strike to make it 2-0.

Lyon had earlier lost coach Rudi Garcia to a red card after a show of dissent to referee Stephanie Frappart.

Montpellier and fourth division Rumilly-Vallières, who stunned second-tier Toulouse on Tuesday, are the other sides to reach the semi-finals.

Source: Reuters