Blanc salutes attitude after PSG book final date

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc praised his team’s attitude after the defending champions advanced to another Coupe de France final.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored 15 minutes from time as PSG overcame Lorient 1-0 in Tuesday’s semi-final at Stade du Moustoir.

A week on from their fourth consecutive Champions League quarter-final exit, Blanc felt PSG – awaiting the winner of Sochaux against Marseille – responded well, especially on the artificial pitch in Lorient.

“It’s never easy to win here, I do not recall easy games in Lorient,” Blanc said. 

“They are a very well-organised team, and are used to playing on the artificial pitch.

“We know we overcame a pain because we did not qualify in the Champions League. Tonight we had the attitude that was necessary to advance.”

As has so often been the case this season and throughout his time in the French capital, Ibrahimovic was the hero.

Having struggled to break down a resilient Lorient outfit, Ibrahimovic finally opened the scoring in the 75th minute, shooting with the outside of his boot, which proved too clever for Benjamin Lecomte.

“It was a game that mattered to us because we want to retain the title,” the Sweden captain said.

It’s hard to play on a pitch like that, it does not exist anywhere else. But we won, that is most important to us. 

“My goal? It is especially nice because we qualified. If someone else had registered, I would have been just as happy, qualifying was the most important for us tonight.”