Lille beats 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.

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.