Lille thrashes Bordeaux 5-1 to reach French League Cup final
PARIS (AP) — Lille thrashed Bordeaux 5-1 to reach the French League Cup final on Tuesday.
Lille will meet either Cup holder Paris Saint-Germain or Toulouse.
Striker Yassine Benzia opened the scoring with a slightly deflected shot, and hit a volley just wide as Lille totally controlled the first 30 minutes, during which it also had a goal disallowed for offside.
Bordeaux midfielder Clement Chantome equalized, but Lille scored twice in quick succession before the break to take control.
A superb instinctive finish from midfielder Eric Bautheac and a fine finish from substitute Sofiane Boufal three minutes into injury time capped a resounding win, and ended Bordeaux's 11-match unbeaten run.
PSG, which is unbeaten in domestic competition this season, hosts Toulouse on Wednesday.
"This will do the team a lot of good," said Lille midfielder Florent Balmont, referring to the side's precarious position of 14th in the league.
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Bordeaux equalized following a defensive error from center half Adama Soumaoro. He tried a drag-back inside his own penalty area and got tackled by Chantome, who drilled the ball into the corner.
Lille missed a chance shortly after when midfielder Rony Lopes shot too close to goalkeeper Jerome Prior after going clean through.
But there was another defensive mishap just before halftime as Bordeaux center half Lamine Sane scored an own goal when trying to tackle Lopes. Four minutes later, Soumaoro made up for his earlier blunder by poking home a cross from close range.
"We were absolutely awful in the first half," Chantome said.
Bordeaux started the second half better but all hopes were extinguished when Bautheac scored with a brilliant flick from just inside the area.
Boufal showed his promise with a brilliant touch to go clear of his marker before coolly lobbing Prior.
