PSG warm up for Champions League final by winning Coupe de France
PA Media/dpa
London
Bradley Barcola scored a quick-fire double as Paris St Germain warmed up for the Champions League final by lifting the Coupe de France to complete a domestic double.
Barcola struck twice inside three first-half minutes - on both occasions assisted by Desire Doue, a late replacement for the unwell Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ahead of next Saturday's showdown with Inter Milan in Munich - before Achraf Hakimi added the third in a 3-0 victory over Reims at the Stade de France.
That proved enough to secure the trophy for the 16th time and keep the Ligue 1 champions on track for an historic treble.
Reims, playing in their first Coupe de France final in 48 years, found themselves under the cosh from the off and Ousmane Dembele saw an eighth-minute attempt blocked after he had played in Hakimi and then got on the end of the full-back's return pass.
Doue sent a 13th-minute shot over after turning expertly inside the box to find space amongst the massed ranks of red and white shirts, but it was he who carved open the Reims defence three minutes later with a fine through-ball to Barcola, who fired emphatically past keeper Yehvann Diouf to open the scoring.
Only three more minutes had elapsed when Marquinhos picked out Doue's run into the box and he squared to Barcola to double the dose.
Diouf denied Dembele after he had been played in by Hakimi 13 minutes before the break with Reims packing men behind the ball in an attempt to stifle PSG, but as a result they were able to offer little going the other way.
Doue's deflected 37th-minute strike landed on the roof of the net with Diouf back-pedalling anxiously and Dembele shot just wide after Fabian Ruiz had robbed Amadou Kone, but it was Hakimi who made it 3-0 with two minutes of the first half remaining when he met Barcola's cross with a sweet volley.
Reims boss Samba Diawara, who had admitted in advance that Thursday night's Ligue 1 promotion-relegation play-off second-leg clash with Metz was the greater priority, made a triple change at the break, but Ruiz might have increased PSG's lead within two minutes of the restart, only to scuff his effort towards Diouf.
With Luis Enrique's men in cruise control, some of the sting had gone out of their game, although Diouf had to claw Barcola's 59th-minute shot out of the bottom corner and the keeper was relieved to see Dembele's shot rear up off him and hit a post five minutes later.
Reims rallied as time ran down, but without ever looking likely to reduce the deficit in a game which had effectively been over by half-time.
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