Paris (AFP) – Radamel Falcao struck twice as Monaco saw off Montpellier 2-0 on Wednesday to set up a French League Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Falcao put the hosts ahead in the 15th minute at the Stade Louis II, before Monaco were denied a penalty by the video assistant referee system.
The Colombian doubled the lead before the half-hour mark, and although Rony Lopes had a second-period strike ruled out by video technology for offside, Leonardo Jardim’s men eased to victory to book a final date with PSG on March 31.
The hosts started brightly, with Andrea Raggi seeing a shot well saved by Montpellier goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte, but they didn’t have to wait long to take the lead.
Full-back Djibril Sidibe burst his way through before laying the ball off for captain Falcao to sweep home.
Monaco thought they had been awarded a penalty just seconds later when Stevan Jovetic was brought down by Lecomte, but a VAR review showed that the keeper had played the ball before taking down the Montenegrin international.
Montpellier, who were thrashed 4-0 by PSG at the weekend, continued to struggle and Monaco doubled their lead in the 29th minute.
Fabinho unlocked the away defence with a clever pass, before Lopes broke free and crossed for Falcao to tap in his 22nd goal of the season in all competitions.
Lopes thought he had added further gloss to the scoreline with 22 minutes to play, but another referral to the VAR showed that Falcao was narrowly offside before laying the ball back to the Portuguese midfielder.
PSG continued their bid for a fifth straight League Cup title by edging to a 3-2 win at Rennes in the first semi-final on Tuesday, as they held off a spirited fightback from the hosts after Kylian Mbappe was sent off on a VAR decision.
