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Linas-Montlhery 0-6 Paris Saint-Germain: Cavani, Sarabia braces leads PSG to easy win

Edinson Cavani and Pablo Sarabia each got a brace as Paris Saint-Germain beat sixth-tier Linas-Montlhery 6-0 in the Coupe de France.

By Ryan Benson
Edinson Cavani and Pablo Sarabia each got a brace as Paris Saint-Germain beat sixth-tier Linas-Montlhery 6-0
Paris, January 6: Paris Saint-Germain eased into the last 32 of the Coupe de France thanks to a 6-0 thrashing of sixth-tier side Linas-Montlhery, with Edinson Cavani and Pablo Sarabia scoring two apiece.
Thomas Tuchel rested many of his star players, including Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Mauro Icardi, but victory was never in doubt and they secured passage to the next stage with complete comfort.
PSG were dominant almost right from the start and eventually took the lead after half-an-hour through the highly rated Adil Aouchiche and made it 2-0 thanks to Cavani just prior to the interval, having seen Sergio Rico save Idrissa Kanoute's penalty just a few moments early.
Linas-Montlhery noticeably struggled more after the break as they began to tire and PSG added further goals through Cavani, a Sarabia brace and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting as they cruised to a comfortable win.
After seeing several chances go to waste during the early exchanges, PSG finally opened the scoring in the 30th minute – Aouchiche receiving Colin Dagba's cut-back and slotting home confidently after deceiving his marker with a clever turn.
The hosts had a wonderful opportunity for a famous goal 10 minutes later when Dagba tripped Issa Cisse in the box, but Rico saved Kanoute's subsequent spot-kick and PSG capitalised 73 seconds later.
Cavani led a counter and played Julian Draxler into the box, before receiving a return pass back towards the edge of the area and the Uruguayan clinically found the net.
The floodgates opened after half-time.
Cavani doubled his tally with an hour played, converting from close range after Gratien Tsota held on to the ball for too long having intercepted Draxler's throughball, before he teed up Sarabia for an easy finish to make it 4-0 a few minutes later.
Sarabia then got a second in the 69th minute, slamming in from 25 yards after goalkeeper Ali Lutumba had lost his balance.
PSG made it 6-0 late on, Lutumba making a mess of Sarabia's initial effort and Choupo-Moting buried the rebound.

What does it mean? PSG are better than sixth-tier opposition… Who knew?

Matches like this are very difficult to draw conclusions from unless something truly ridiculous occurs. A comfortable win was the very least expected of PSG, and that's what they delivered.

Nevertheless, the hosts can be commended for their performance through parts of the first half, as they probably should have scored at least once.

Aouchiche catches the eye

While Cavani, Draxler and Sarabia all had productive outings, all three are extremely experienced and should be tearing apart opposition of this standard. Aouchiche, on the other hand, is just 17 and was making only his second first-team appearance. The midfielder was lively, looked assured on the ball and got himself a lovely goal. You cannot ask for much more than that.

Kanoute fluffs his lines

It would be unfair to be too critical of any Linas-Montlhery player given the gulf in quality, but Kanoute's penalty was the perfect opportunity to put a bit of pressure on PSG and his effort was poor.

What's next?

PSG are in cup action again on Wednesday, as they host Saint-Etienne in the Coupe de la Ligue.

Story first published: Monday, January 6, 2020, 9:53 [IST]
Other articles published on Jan 6, 2020