PSG's Blanc defends Vegas getaway

Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc has insisted that a handful of his players who enjoyed a midweek Las Vegas getaway have done nothing wrong.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti, Salvatore Sirigu, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, and David Luiz were among those photographed in Vegas this week after the club secured its third straight League Cup final's appearance with a victory over Lille.

"My players do what they want. They had three days off, I gave them to them, and I think that's a good thing," Blanc said ahead of Friday night's match with Rennes.

"There is no problem with it, when I give three days' rest. I do not have to comment on what my players do, whatever they are - young or more experienced.

"It is their privacy, they do what they have to do."

With a 27-point gap on second place and a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title locked up, the club has only one meaningful match this season, a French Cup final against Marseille on May 21. A win would see the capital club complete the domestic treble.

The aftermath of the midweek sabbatical has spread beyond football, as Racing 92's Argentine tight-head prop Martin Castrogiovanni was suspended for missing the club's European Rugby Champions Cup semi-final against the Leicester Tigers. Castrogiovanni, pictured above to Ibrahimovic's right, had told the club that he was in Argentina to attend to a family matter.