Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain have reached the French Cup quarter-finals with Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola scoring in each half to earn a 2-0 win at third-tier Le Mans.
Second-tier Dunkerque also reached the last eight by beating top-flight Lille on penalties after a 1-1 draw, while Brest eliminated Ligue 2 side Troyes with a 2-1 win.
At the Stade Marie-Marvingt, Le Mans sat back in an effort to frustrate the Ligue 1 leaders, who are unbeaten in all competitions since November, and it took 17 minutes for PSG to have their first shot, which Lee Kang-in put well over the bar from outside the box.
The hosts’ attempts to hold off PSG on Tuesday were undone by a defensive mistake in the 25th minute, when Alexandre Lauray’s pass was blocked by Goncalo Ramos on the edge of the box. The ball reached Doue, who buried it into the bottom left corner.
Substitute Barcola doubled the lead in the 71st minute as he got hold of a lofted ball from Nuno Mendes, sprinted into the Le Mans box and finished at the near post.
“It was a typical Coupe de France match. Dangerous, unpredictable. There are a lot of things you can’t control. But I think we did a good job,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said.
“We are in the quarter-finals and we were able to give the players some minutes and a rest, so we have to be happy.”
PSG kept their hopes of a 16th Coupe de France title alive having suffered back-to-back exits at this stage of the competition in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
They host third-placed Monaco in a league clash on Friday.
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