AFP, PARIS: Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria propelled holders Paris Saint-Germain into a fourth straight French League Cup final with both scoring twice in a 4-1 victory at Bordeaux on Tuesday.
Argentine Di Maria’s stunning free-kick gave record six-time champions PSG the lead, but Diego Rolan cancelled out the winger’s effort just past the half hour.
Cavani put the visitors back on top with a thumping finish on 60 minutes before adding a second, while Di Maria again struck from distance as PSG set up an April 1 showdown with the winner of Wednesday’s semi-final between Monaco and Nancy.
Paris have dominated this competition in recent years, winning each of the past three editions, and Unai Emery ignored any temptations to rest players ahead of Sunday’s pivotal clash with Ligue 1 leaders Monaco by fielding a full-strength side.
“We want to play for all the titles and to win as many as possible,” said Emery. “This team deserves its place in this final.
“(Against Monaco) it’s going to be a big match for the league. We want to win because today they are first.”
Bordeaux coach Jocelyn Gourvennec admitted the Parisians were simply too strong.
“We have nothing to be embarrassed about in this defeat, it’s not an upset to be eliminated by Paris,” he said.
“To beat them would have been an exploit, we believed in ourselves but they managed to punish us.
“This evening they had an extreme precision as Di Maria demonstrated. I hope we’ll bounce back and beat them in the league in less than two weeks.”
PSG survived an early scare when Malcom steered straight at PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp after Thomas Meunier misjudged a cross, but the away side struck first when Di Maria drilled a 30-yard free-kick past Jerome Prior.