Cavani scores twice to help PSG crush Lorient 4-0

PARIS (AP) — Edinson Cavani scored twice to help Paris Saint-Germain to a dominant 4-0 victory at home to Lorient on Friday as the Uruguayan moved to the top of the French league scoring charts.

Fellow star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic was rested with a minor knee injury ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match against Anderlecht but PSG got off to the perfect start when Lucas was given too much space in the area and volleyed in Lucas Digne's cross after just two and a half minutes.

"There's a lot of reasons to be satisfied tonight," PSG coach Laurent Blanc. "First of all the win, which was vital, but also how we did it. There were really a lot of good things, individually and as a team. Even when we were ahead we continued to attack and we were rewarded. It's good to score four goals in a match.

"Cavani is a player who is easy to fit into the group, with his style of play, his talents and his spirit. He's not someone who's selfish, he plays for the team."

The capital club almost doubled its lead in the 20th minute but Alex's header was cleared off the line by Lorient defender Raphael Guerreiro. There was more bad news for Lorient as goalkeeper Fabien Audard was injured in that incident and had to be replaced, as did forward Jeremie Aliadiere.

Jeremy Menez doubled PSG's lead in the 39th minute, driving home Marco Verratti's chipped throughball.

In the absence of Ibrahimovic, Cavani played in his preferred center-forward position and the Uruguayan extended PSG's lead three minutes from halftime. Baptiste Reynet mistakenly came to try and gather a ball but Lucas evaded the substitute goalkeeper and crossed in for Cavani to head into an empty net.

Moments earlier Lorient had had its best chance of the match when PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu pulled off a stunning save to keep out Kevin Monnet-Paquet's header.

Cavani doubled his tally nine minutes from time. Reynet did well to parry Adrien Rabiot's header but Cavani was on hand to tap in the rebound for his ninth goal of the season.

"The coach asked us to be serious and focused for the first 15 minutes and we conceded in the third," Reynet said. "It's really annoying. We have to quickly regroup and focus on Reims now."

PSG moved provisionally three points clear of Monaco, which visits third-placed Lille on Sunday.