Ben Arfa shines as PSG see off Avranches to reach Cup semis

PARIS: Hatem Ben Arfa made a case for a regular place in the team when he scored twice and set up another to earn a largely reserve Paris St Germain side a 4-0 win at third division Avranches and a spot in the French Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.

Ben Arfa struck each side of the interval as the defending champions joined En Avant Guingamp, Angers and Monaco in the last four.

He put his side ahead as he fired a splendid strike from the edge of the box into the far top corner after his attempt took a slight deflection off Jonathan Clauss’s head in the 35th minute.

Ben Arfa doubled the tally eight minutes into the second half by tapping in a pass by Lucas.

Brazilian forward Lucas then found the back of the net, firing home after chesting the ball down from Blaise Matuidi’s cross on 56 minutes.

Argentine playmaker Javier Pastore added a fourth eight minutes from time with a lob after being perfectly set up by Ben Arfa.