Neymar, PSG run riot in French Cup

NEYMAR, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria all scored twice as a rampant Paris Saint-Germain shrugged off the absence of Edinson Cavani to win 6-1 away to Ligue 1 rivals Rennes in the French Cup yesterday.

Leading scorer Cavani was not involved after returning late from his Christmas and New Year break in Uruguay, so Di Maria came into the attack alongside Mbappe and Neymar.

Mbappe opened the scoring inside nine minutes, finishing after being picked out by Thiago Silva’s long ball over the top.

A brilliantly worked goal saw PSG double their lead, with Adrien Rabiot and Marco Verratti combining to tee up Neymar for the finish.

Di Maria turned in a Yuri Berchiche cross from the left for the third goal midway through the first half and the pick of the bunch came as Neymar made it 4-0 two minutes from half-time.

PSG started the move in their own penalty box before Neymar broke downfield and eventually applied the finish from Mbappe’s pass.

Rennes did pull one back in the second half from a Benjamin Bourigeaud penalty after a Thiago Motta handball, but there was still time for Unai Emery’s side to score twice more.

Mbappe set up Di Maria to make it five and the Argentine returned the favour with an assist for Mbappe to complete the rout.

In other results, Guido Carrillo scored a hattrick as Monaco won 5-2 at fourthtier Yzeure while Lyon won 3-2 at Ligue 2 side Nancy and Marseille beat secondtier Valenciennes 1-0 at home. – AFP