PSG scrapes through 2-1 vs. Locmine in French Cup

Posted Monday, January 09, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

PARIS (AP)—Carlo Ancelotti’s first official match in charge of Paris Saint-Germain ended with a scrappy 2-1 win against non-league side Locmine in the French Cup on Sunday.

Uruguay defender Diego Lugano scored with a header with 30 seconds remaining in injury time as PSG avoided the embarrassment of being taken to extra time and reached the last 32.

“I wasn’t scared, no,” Ancelotti said. “It was a difficult game, but we didn’t lose the desire to win and scored in the last seconds.”

PSG has spent ?82 million ($116 million) on players this season, but struggled early on against a team of part-timers which plays four divisions below PSG and has an annual budget of ?240,000 ($343,000).

“It’s sad to lose, but this was amazing,” Locmine coach Didier Noblet said. “When you’re a coach and your players are able to play like that, you can only be proud of them.”

PSG’s next cup opponent is Sable-sur-Sarthe, which plays at the same level as Locmine.

Pastore, who cost PSG a French transfer record of ?42 million ($60 million), looked totally out of sorts in a scrappy first half before putting his side ahead in the 53rd minute.

Pastore was largely outshone by Abou Maiga, a former professional who came back to France from Qatar’s second division to try and better his career. Maiga equalized for Locmine from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute.

Maiga also went clean through in the fourth minute and his rising shot beat Salvatore Sirigu, but the Italian keeper was saved by his crossbar.

“These are the hardest games because the motivation of teams like this is even higher,” Sirigu said.

Defender Yoann Le Roux, who is a junior school teacher, then hit the side-netting as PSG failed to properly defend a corner and spent a frenetic opening spell on the back foot.

Guillaume Hoarau almost put PSG ahead in the 15th minute, but goalkeeper Erwan Flegeo did well to save his lob.

PSG continued to struggle, however, with Lugano often pulled out of position by Maiga’s runs.

As the first half drew to a close, Ancelotti had seen enough and got up from the bench to stand near the touchline, glaring moodily at his players. With two Champions League titles as coach of AC Milan, he clearly expected better.

“I explained to the players that they needed to play higher up the field and get behind the defense more,” Ancelotti said.

Pastore broke the deadlock shortly after the break, tapping the ball into an empty net after Flegeo saved his first effort. Pastore then hit the crossbar from a narrow angle moments later after rounding Flegeo.

“You have to take your chances when you’re 1-0 up because you’re never safe in these games,” PSG defender Christophe Jallet said. “We didn’t play well at all, but the important thing is get through. We also expected better but they came at our throats.”

With 20 minutes remaining, Pastore crashed a shot into the side-netting with two of his teammates totally unmarked in the penalty area, much to the annoyance of Ancelotti—and Locmine equalized a minute later.

Mamadou Sakho tripped Fabrice Peru as he burst into the area, and Maiga sent Sirigu the wrong way from the spot.

“Pastore had the chance to score, and he could also have set up (Mevlut) Erding (for a goal),” Ancelotti said.

Locmine kept pressing for the winning goal as Ancelotti paced up and down nervously, but Nene kept a cool head to pick out Lugano with a chipped pass over the defense and he headed home.

Elsewhere, striker Lisandro Lopez scored a hat trick as Lyon beat its non-league neighbor Lyon-Duchere 3-1.

Lopez got his goals in the first half, taking his season’s tally to 10 in all competitions.

Ajaccio beat Toulouse 1-0 in an all first-division match, while Evian squeezed past second-division Metz in a penalty shootout after the match finished 2-2.