Fiorese comes up smelling of roses

Paris Saint-Germain FC defeated ten-man Olympique de Marseille 2-1 after extra time in a French Cup second-round tie played in a tense atmosphere on and off the field at the Parc des Princes, surrounded by a considerable security operation.

Powerful header
PSG took the upper hand from the kick-off and opened the scoring after 13 minutes when Argentine central defender Maurico Pochettino headed home a Hugo Leal corner. PSG, who trounced Marseille 3-0 in their last encounter in Paris in October, seemed in control until Daniel Van Buyten levelled with a powerful header from a Fabio Celestini long range free-kick on the hour.

Red card
From then on there was a flourish of yellow-cards, five to Marseille, three to PSG that culminated with Marseille's Manuel Dos Santos being sent off with a straight red card for a late tackle on Fabrice Fiorese in the dying seconds of regular time. Fiorese sealed PSG’s victory when Ronaldinho set him up for a well-struck low shot from the edge of the box 12 minutes into extra time. PSG central defender Talal El Karkouri received a second yellow card just before the final whistle.

'High risk game'
Labelled a "high risk game", the match between the two arch-rivals was played under strict police control. Some 2,000 police officers and 400 PSG security agents were on duty inside and outside the stadium and the interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy was on the spot to supervise the operation. The Parc des Princes area was sealed off several hours before kick-off, pubs and restaurants were barred from selling alcohol and all spectators were body-searched. No major incidents were reported but Paris police said two PSG supporters were arrested and “dozens of knifes and pickaxe shafts” were seized.

Defeat for Lens
Other second-round results included a shock defeat for UEFA Champions League first group stage contestants RC Lens, who lost at second-division Toulouse FC who scored the winner in the 23rd minute through striker Anthony Bancarel. FC Nantes Atlantique, the 1999 and 2000 Cup winners, were eliminated 1-0 by holders FC Lorient, who were relegated at the end of last season.

Auxerre through
Le Havre AC lost 2-1 to another second division team Stade Lavallois-Mayenne FC. Stade Rennais FC defeated AC Ajaccio 3-0 in the only other all-first division match. But there were no nasty surprises for UEFA Cup hopefuls AJ Auxerre and En Avant Guingamp, who dispatched amateur teams Amneville and Seysinet-Pariset, 3-0 and 5-1 respectively.

Pauleta on target
FC Girondins de Bordeaux comfortably defeated second division Grenoble, one of the first round giant-killers with a win over AS Monaco FC, thanks to goals from Brazilian midfielder Eduardo Costa and Portuguese striker Pedro Pauleta, while Lille OSC only tamed fifth division Agde in the dying minutes of extra time thanks to a Philippe Brunet double.