PSG beat 10-man St Etienne to win French Cup, but Mbappe injured
Paris St Germain's Neymar struck early to secure a 1-0 make an impression on 10-man St Etienne because they claimed a record-extending 13th Coupe de France on Friday in a near empty stadium as French soccer arrived of a four-month break as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Brazilian scored on the rebound in the 14th minute after PSG fellow forward Kylian Mbappe sprinted clear and saw his shot blocked by goalkeeper Jessy Moulin, with only 5,000 fans in the 80,000-seater Stade de France because of strict health protocols.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had met the players on the pitch but kept his distance and wore a face mask.
The atmosphere in the run-up to the first professional game in France following the long hiatus was definately not festive with only a handful of folks around the stadium before the match.
The contest got off to an eventful start with Yvann Macon felling Neymar in the opening seconds to earn a yellow card and St Etienne's Denis Bouanga hitting the post in the fifth minute.
Nonetheless it was the Parisians who scored when Neymar pounced on Moulin's save to fire in.
Loic Perrin's rough tackle in the 26th put Mbappe out from the game. The St Etienne captain was dispatched off in his last game and four additional players had been booked as tempers briefly flared.
With Ligue 1 champions PSG chasing a quadruple of titles this year, the few fans in the stands breathed a sigh of relief when Mbappe returned on crutches to the bench following the interval, joking and laughing along with his team mates.
"It proceeded to go crack," Mbappe was heard telling Macron of his injury during the trophy ceremony. Macron then asked whether anything was damaged and Mbappe explained "No, I don't think so."
St Etienne kept finding ways into the PSG box even after going a guy down but missed from adding to their six Cup wins.
"We won the ultimate and that's what matter," PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said. His team had dropped last year's final to Stade Rennes on penalties.
The German was also angry with just how St Etienne had played right away.
"It was complicated with all the current fouls to Thilo Kehrer, Neymar and Mbappe. Within the last three matches against St Etienne they get a red card in the first thirty minutes. I don't know very well what is being explained in their dressing room. It is horrible. I can't understand it.
"We won and we have a lot of things to boost, to speak about and analyse," he said.
