French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie has revealed the Paris St Germain supporters who unfurled a discriminatory banner at the Coupe de la Ligue final are close to being caught.

An investigation has been opened into the incident, which saw a banner on display for around five minutes during Saturday's game which read "Paedophiles, unemployed, inbreeding, welcome to the North".

The message hijacked the name of a film which is currently out in France, called 'Welcome to the North', and was aimed directly at the people of Lens - PSG's opponents in the final.

There has been widespread condemnation of the banner, with even French president Nicolas Sarkozy calling for firm sanctions against the guilty parties.

Alliot-Marie insists that investigators are closing in on the supporters involved.

"We are in the process of identifying them," she told Canal Plus.

"It will all be finished in the days to come and that will allow us to question these people and put them before justice.

"The video images, the scrutiny of fingerprints and DNA tests on the cuts of the banner recovered in the stand are being used in this inquiry."

Alliot-Marie added that as well as penal sanctions, the supporters involved will be hit with "extra punishments, like stadium bans".

Sarkozy on Tuesday welcomed Lens president Gervais Martel, as well as the club's coach Jean-Pierre Papin and the city's deputy-mayor Guy Delcourt, to the Elysee Palace to discuss the incident.

Bernard Laporte, the former head coach of France's rugby union team who is now minister for sport, was also in attendance.

Martel said: "I said to Nicolas Sarkozy that this scourge on us was dramatic for the whole of our sport, for amateur football and for all the kids who play it.

"He replied that he will have to act with firmness. He asked Bernard Laporte to think seriously about the level of punishment that will be applied."

Laporte added: "We are going to toughen up the law. We have to put an end to this violence by unfortunately making the most of this affair to hit (offenders) hard.

"At the moment, troublemakers risk a three-month stadium ban but that is a farce. We have to punish them financially and in the courts."

There will be extra security in place at PSG's match against Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.