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PSG crush Monaco to reach French Cup final

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verrati hit out at Monaco's disrespect for the French Cup after their 5-0 annihilation at the Parc des Princes. The 24-year-old Italian was one of the star performers on Wednesday night as the holders eased into the final for the third consecutive year. 

Unai Emery has led PSG to the League Cup this season and his side are into the final of the French Cup.
Unai Emery has led PSG to the League Cup this season and his side are into the final of the French Cup. Reuters/Stephane Mahe
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"If I were a Monaco player, I'd be annoyed for not going all out for victory," Verrati said. "It's good to change the starting line up and freshen things up a bit but what they did tonight was a bit too much."

Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim fielded a team denuded of the stalwarts that have fired Monaco to the top of the French first division and into the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League.

His decision to sacrifice progress in a competition celebrating its 100th anniversary was backed by the Monaco hierarchy.

"It's a shame not to go all out for the Cup," said Monaco's vice-president Vadim Vasilyev. "But with the French championship and the Champions League, we had to make a choice. We've played a lot of matches so far this season."

Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani gave the hosts a 2-0 cushion at half-time. And the tie was effectively over within seven minutes of the restart. Safwan Mbae scored an own goal and Blaise Matuidi added the fourth.

As the PSG faithful rejoiced, their players moved into training ground routines as Monaco's tyros chased around. Marquinhos added PSG's fifth in stoppage time.

"If we had played the same 12 or 13 players as usual, if we hadn't made this choice then it's likely we wouldn't get to the end of the season with our first 11," said Jardim.

Unai Emery, his PSG counterpart, added: "The French Cup is an important target for us. We want to win it for the 11th time so that's why we prepared well for the game and we wanted to show our supporters we were taking it seriously.

"We played properly. We have our objectives, other teams have theirs. It's the semi-final of the French Cup and we have respect for the history of the competition."

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