Pauleta beats Rocheteau record to give Le Guen a breather

Paris' captain Pauleta celebrates after winning the French League Cup football match Paris Saint-Germain vs. Montpellier, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. PSG won 2-0.

The pressure on Paul Le Guen dropped a notch after Portuguese striker Pauleta scored a record-setting brace for Paris St Germain to hand them a 2-0 French League Cup win over Montpellier on Wednesday.

PSG and their emblematic striker - who admitted in the press on Wednesday he was having a troubled time at being left out of the starting line-up more often than not - have been off the boil of late after yet another disappointing start to their league campaign.

However Pauleta's double strike - scoring his 100th and 101st goals for the club and thus beating the previous record held by former France international Dominique Rocheteau - has slightly soothed PSG's pains.

PSG move into the quarter-finals, but beating Montpellier - a former top flight side who have since dropped into the second division - will be only scant consolation for the capital side's demanding and impatient fans.

It was far from a one-sided contest, and while Pauleta was celebrating PSG had to count on their 'keeper Mickael Landreau to keep Montpellier at bay, the keeper saving a penalty.

Le Guen was only too happy with the win, but admitted it was far from pretty.

"We had to qualify, and we've achieved that," said the Frenchman, who was ousted from Scottish giants Rangers after a hugely disappointing season last year.

"It was a hard match, and not too pretty but we battled and came away with the result.

"Montpellier gave us a few problems, but you have to know how to be efficient in football and that's exactly what we were."

PSG will now meet first division side Valenciennes, after their shock away defeat of Rennes, in the quarter-finals, although who plays host to who has yet to be decided.

On Tuesday Marseille set aside their woeful French domestic form to scrape past Metz 5-4 on penalties - after the match finished 2-2.

Marseille - who are third from bottom in the French league in contrast to their excellent Champions League form - twice took the lead in extra-time first through Senegalese international striker Mamadou Niang and then French international forward Djibril Cisse.

Cisse was also on the mark in the shootout but it was poor Sebastien Bassong who suffered as the Metz defender missed the fifth penalty of the shootout for the championship's bottom side and hand Marseille a much needed victory.

The 1993 European Cup winners will face Auxerre in the last eight - Auxerre having beaten Nice 6-2 earlier on Tuesday.