PSG Patience Running Thin with Edinson Cavani After Lyon Coupe de la Ligue Flop

Paris Saint-Germain qualified for the semi-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue with a 2-1 win over Olympique Lyonnais at Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.

Adrien Rabiot's scrappy, early goal and Lucas Moura’s late finish to a lightning-fast counter-attack were enough to ensure Corentin Tolisso’s superb strike for the visitors on the stroke of half-time was no more than a consolation effort.

Post-match, PSG manager Laurent Blanc revealed to the assembled press that he was delighted to advance after an evenly matched encounter.

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It was a great night, with two good teams. It was a good cup match and either side could have won it. As it turned out, it was PSG who went through. People were saying that both clubs would field weakened line-ups, but I find that very disrespectful to the players. The teams were evenly matched.

You can't say Paris Saint-Germain didn't deserve to go through. OL have changed coach, and their playing system has changed too, and the players are looking to earn their places. I was pleasantly surprised by this Lyon side.

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Prior to the Lyon clash, much of the talk had focused on Coupe de la Ligue holders’ Edinson Cavani and his situation at the club.

As reported by ESPN FC’s Mark Rodden, Blanc admitted in a pre-match press conference on Tuesday that a conversation reported by L’Equipe in Doha, Qatar between Le President and a number of senior players over the winter break did actually take place.

The 50-year-old tactician confirmed Cavani’s name cropped up in a conversation involving the Uruguay international’s team-mates Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi.

However, Blanc clarified that El Matador’s ability and performances were not the subject of discussion but his behaviour instead.

Xavier Laine/Getty Images

Since the Frenchman’s admission, transfer rumours linking Cavani with a move away from Paris have intensified. Many outlets, such as MailOnline, have interpreted Blanc’s comments as a sign the South American is free to leave Parc des Princes at the earliest possible opportunity.

This is not strictly true, but PSG must now be running out of patience with Cavani after another disappointing display.

The 28-year-old started in the middle of the French champions’ attack, his preferred position, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic given some time to rest on the bench after a busy opening to 2016.

However, the former Napoli man disappeared from the game at times, the 90 minutes passing him by.

Cavani might as well have not been on the pitch in the first half, such was his lack of involvement. He only fleetingly showed himself in the second half.

The PSG No. 9 forced one good diving save out of Lyon goalkeeper Mathieu Gorgelin with a powerful second-half shot from the edge of the box. Additionally, he almost managed to flick a clipped Marco Verratti pass over the top beyond the OL shot-stopper and into the net.

Outside of those two chances, being flagged for offside was about as exciting as it got for Cavani on Wednesday. The Uruguayan should have few complaints about any criticism directed toward him for his performance because he simply did not do enough.

Xavier Laine/Getty Images

Cavani’s scoring ratio is still good. He has 12 goals and two assists from 19 domestic appearances so far this season, and even taking into account UEFA Champions League figures—scoring once in six outings—13 goals and two assists from 25 games across all competitions is better than one goal every two matches.

However, the big problem is the large majority of these goals come when Cavani is not playing a central role.

In fact, more pointedly, he scores fewer goals when Ibrahimovic does not play than he does with the dominant Swede alongside him.

El Matador is simply not reliable enough when played up top on his own. While that is not too much of a problem with Zlatan still around, it will become a major concern for PSG if their talismanic No. 10 does decide to move on when his contract ends at the end of the season.

Blanc was not afraid to bench a fit Cavani for the 2-0 win over SC Bastia in Ligue 1 on Friday, so perhaps he will do the same again for one game or both of the upcoming doubleheader games against struggling Toulouse.