Although all representatives of the lower division clubs playing in "Ligue 1" reached the next stage, there were interesting battles in the quarterfinals of the French Cup.
Last year's tournament winner "Paris Saint-Germain" only defeated the average second league team "Niort" after a fierce battle.
The Parisians started the match with a not-so-strong lineup, but had to correct the situation with substitutions. The leader of the favorites' attacks, Edinson Cavani, stepped onto the field without playing for even an hour, but he also failed to change the course of the game quickly.
The decisive moment was the performance of Javier Pastore, who appeared just four minutes after replacing Grzegorz Krychowiak, leading Unai Emery's students forward in the 78th minute. Finally, towards the end of the match, Cavani secured PSG's lead with a relaxed finish.
Another fierce battle took place between two strong "Ligue 1" teams "Marseille" and "Monaco". Goals were not lacking here.
Leonardo Jardim's players played away, but took the lead first - Joao Moutinho scored in the 19th minute. However, Dimitri Payet managed to equalize the score before halftime.
In the 66th minute, Kylian Mbappe gave the lead back to the visitors and it seemed like they had all the chances to maintain it, but then Hiroki Sakai made a crucial pass to Remy Cabella and he restored the balance.
Eventually, the teams had to play extra time, where former Marseille defender Benjamin Mendy made a mistake. At the end of the first half, he scored an own goal against his former team, and it seemed like it was all over.
However, Cabella had other plans and equalized the score. Nevertheless, Mendy made a successful pass to Thomas Lemar and Monaco celebrated a hard-fought victory with a 4-3 result.
Results:
"CA Bastia" 0 - 1 "Angers"
"Etoile Frejus Saint-Raphael" 2 - 0 "Auxerre"
"Bordeaux" 2 - 1 "Lorient"
"Avranches" 1 - 1 "Strasbourg" (after penalty shootout)
"Niort" 0 - 2 "Paris Saint-Germain"
"Quevilly" 1 - 2 "Guingamp"
"Marseille" 3 - 4 "Monaco" (after extra time)
