The 2014 Coupe de la Ligue final was the 20th final of France's football league cup competition, the Coupe de la Ligue, a competition for the 42 teams that the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) manages. The final took place on 19 April 2014 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and was contested between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. PSG won 2–1 and became the first club to win the competition four times, ahead of Bordeaux and Marseille.

The winner of the final should have been guaranteed a UEFA Europa League place for the 2014–15 season, but PSG had already qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League via its league position.

Build-up

Team backgrounds Lyon appeared in its fifth final of the Coupe de la Ligue. The Rhône-Alpes-based club won its only league cup title in 2001 defeating Monaco 2–1 after extra time. In Lyon's three other finals appearances, the club finished runner-up in 1996, 2007 and 2012 to Metz, Bordeaux and Marseille respectively.

In their four previous finals, Paris Saint-Germain had won three: the inaugural final in 1995 against Bastia, in 1998 against Bordeaux in a penalty shootout, and a 2-1 win over Lens in 2008. Their one defeat in a final had been in 2000, losing to second-tier Gueugnon. PSG manager Laurent Blanc had won the 2009 final with Bordeaux.

The two teams met in the league six days before the final, Lyon winning 1–0 at home through Jordan Ferri to inflict only PSG's second league defeat of the season and prevent them from possibly winning the title on that day. However, Lyon manager Rémi Garde, said "The two matches shouldn't be compared. We were at home and on Saturday we're away from home. We're closer to Paris than Lyon. They are two competitions with different ingredients. I'm not worried that we'll relax after our win. We'll start from scratch."

PSG were disadvantaged by the loss through injury of Ligue 1 top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimović, who was injured in their Champions League victory over Chelsea on 2 April. As a result, Edinson Cavani moved to centre-forward. First-choice goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu was rested for PSG, with Nicolas Douchez starting instead. A BBC preview to the match said, "Champions League heartbreak, losing your best player through injury and then being beaten by tonight's opponents in your last game. It's fair enough to say Paris St-Germain's build-up to the French League Cup final hasn't been ideal."

Ticketing The Coupe de la Ligue final has been played every year at the Stade de France since 1998, following the stadium's completion. The stadium has a capacity of 81,338 spectators. Both clubs will receive the same quota of tickets, which are distributed to season ticket holders and through each club's ticket sales at a later date. Ticketing information was released on 12 February 2014.

Route to the final Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). Lyon Round Paris Saint-Germain Opponent Result 2013–14 Coupe de la Ligue Opponent Result Reims (H) 3–2Round of 16 Saint-Étienne (H) 2–1 Marseille (H) 2–1Quarter-finals Bordeaux (A) 3–1 Troyes (H) 2–1Semi-finals Nantes (A) 2–1

Lyon As a Ligue 1 club involved in a European campaign, Lyon entered in the Round of 16 on 18 December 2013 and defeated Reims 3–2 at home, with all goals in the second half, Lyon's through Bafétimbi Gomis, Alexandre Lacazette and Yoann Gourcuff. In the quarter-finals on 15 January 2014, again at home, they beat Marseille 2–1 through Gourcuff and Gomis. Lyon's semi-final was at home against Ligue 2 club Troyes on 5 February, and they won 2–1 after Lacazette and Gomis scored in the first half hour of play.

Paris Saint-Germain Due to the same circumstances, PSG also entered the tournament at the same stage on the same day, and played holders Saint-Étienne at home in their first match. Edinson Cavani put the home team ahead in the first half, before Mevlüt Erdinç equalised late on. Cavani then scored the winner within the last five minutes of extra time. In the quarter-finals on 14 January, PSG travelled to the Stade Chaban-Delmas to play against Bordeaux. Javier Pastore scored the first goal at the end of the first half, with André Biyogo Poko equalising soon after play resumed. With two goals in the last five minutes of the match, Adrien Rabiot and Blaise Matuidi put PSG into the semi-finals. At the Stade de la Beaujoire, PSG gained the lead early on through Zlatan Ibrahimović, and the last ten minutes saw Olivier Veigneau equalise and Ibrahimović score the winner.

Match

Summary

After 178 seconds of play, Edinson Cavani opened the scoring for PSG by tapping in a cross from left-back Maxwell which beat Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. Cavani gained advantage by playing in a preferred centre-forward position due to the injury to Zlatan Ibrahimović, and soon after scoring forced a save by a volley. PSG defender Alex had a goal ruled out for offside, and Cavani converted a penalty won when Lopes fouled Lucas. A chance for a first-half hat-trick was denied when Cavani missed a one-on-one from eight yards out, and in the first ten minutes of the second half, Alexandre Lacazette scored for Lyon by running from the halfway line and then shooting from 20 yards. Despite then dominating possession, Lyon had few subsequent chances to equalise.

Details

GK 16 Anthony Lopes RB 14 Mouhamadou Dabo CB 5 Milan Biševac CB 23 Samuel UmtitiLB 3 Henri Bedimo DM 21 Maxime Gonalons (c)CM 24 Corentin TolissoCM 28 Arnold MvuembaAM 17 Steed Malbranque CF 18 Bafétimbi GomisCF 10 Alexandre LacazetteSubstitutes:GK 30 Mathieu GorgelinDF 2 Mehdi ZeffaneDF 4 Bakary Koné MF 20 Gaël DanicFW 19 Jimmy Briand FW 26 Clinton N'JieFW 31 Nabil Fekir Manager: Rémi Garde GK 1 Nicolas DouchezRB 26 Christophe JalletCB 13 AlexCB 2 Thiago Silva (c)LB 17 MaxwellDM 8 Thiago MottaCM 24 Marco Verratti CM 14 Blaise MatuidiRW 29 Lucas CF 9 Edinson Cavani LW 22 Ezequiel Lavezzi Substitutes:GK 30 Salvatore SiriguDF 5 MarquinhosDF 21 Lucas DigneMF 4 Yohan Cabaye MF 7 Jérémy Ménez MF 25 Adrien RabiotMF 27 Javier Pastore Manager: Laurent Blanc

Man of the Match: Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain)

Assistant referees: Mickaël Annonier Frédéric Cano Fourth official: Eric Dansault Additional assistant referees: Nicolas Rainville Bartolomeu VarelaMatch rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes, of which up to three may be used.

See also 2014 Coupe de France final 2013–14 Olympique Lyonnais season 2013–14 Paris Saint-Germain FC season

References

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