Paris Saint-Germain kept alive their hopes of a domestic Treble after beating Lorient 1-0 to reach the Coupe de France final.

A solitary Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal -- his 11th strike in seven games -- decided the semifinal and ensured the Ligue 1 champions will play in their 14th Coupe de France final next month.

Lorient began well and Maxime Barthelme had a couple of decent shooting opportunities, but a first-time effort from 18 yards flew over Salvatore Sirigu's goal before a second attempt from distance went well wide.

The favourites had to wait until just before the half-hour mark to register their first real opportunity at goal when Edinson Cavani saw his header from Angel Di Maria's corner hacked off the line by Walid Mesloub.

Both sides continued to battle it out in an even opening 45 minutes which saw Lorient denied a penalty after Raphael Guerreiro took a tumble under a Marquinhos challenge before Ibrahimovic twice went close, moments before the referee brought an end to the half.

The hosts continued to match the league champions after the restart and only a smart stop from Sirigu just after the hour mark prevented Abdul Waris from opening the scoring after he fired through Thiago Silva's legs.

And Sirigu made an even better stop 10 minutes later to deny Benjamin Moukandjo after the Lorient striker beat the offside trap.

But, despite Lorient's efforts, they found themselves a goal behind with quarter of an hour to play when Ibrahimovic showed why some of Europe's elite clubs are still vying for his signature. The Sweden striker powered his way through the Lorient defence before dispatching an unstoppable effort beyond Benjamin Lecomte.

It could easily have been two for Laurent Blanc's side when Serge Aurier burst clear of Lindsay Rose but Lecomte came to the rescue to keep out the Ivorian's weak effort at goal.

Zargo Toure almost secured extra time for his side in 90th minute but his header from Yann Jouffre's free kick was claimed on his own line by the impressive Sirigu.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by PA Sport

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