Paris: Ten-man Paris Saint-Germain beat Lille 2-1 in the French League Cup final at the Stade de France on Saturday to remain on course for a domestic clean sweep of titles.
The Ligue 1 champions took the lead five minutes before half-time in contentious circumstances, with Javier Pastore’s shot passing through the legs of an offside Layvin Kurzawa on its way into the net. But Lille hit back shortly after the restart when Djibril Sidibe fired a free-kick through the wall and into the net.
The capital city side were dealt a huge blow when Adrien Rabiot was shown a second yellow card for a cynical foul on the impressive Sofiane Boufal with 20 minutes remaining.
But a moment of madness from Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama allowed Angel Di Maria to roll in the winner with 16 minutes to play for his 15th goal of the season.
Laurent Blanc’s men now have three trophies this term with a French Cup final against Marseille to come, as they look to ease the pain of their Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Manchester City.
“My players, even at 10 against 11, wanted to win that game,” coach Blanc told television channel France 2, after his team won the final for the third year in a row.
PSG thrashed Bastia 4-0 12 months ago to seal a record fifth League Cup title, while Lille were playing in the final of the competition for the first time.
Blanc opted to play Lucas Moura alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Di Maria up front, leaving Edinson Cavani on the bench, while the returning Marco Verratti was named among the substitutes.
Lille, who came into this match on a six-game winning streak, grew into the contest and PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu had to be alert to prevent Marquinhos from putting through his own net.
