Bordeaux and Paris Saint Germain to meet in French League Cup

Bordeaux will meet holders Paris Saint Germain in the semi-finals of the French League Cup after Wednesday’s quarter-finals saw them win 2-1 against Chateauroux and 2-0 over Lens respectively.

No offensive banners were unveiled at the Parc des Princes following the controversial scenes in last year’s final between PSG and Lens at the Stade de France when northern Frenchmen were vilified in a banner, which almost had the Paris club barred from defending their trophy.

The other semi-final will be between Nice and Vannes, the only representative from the Second Division. The semi-finals are on February 3 and 4, with the Stade de France final on April 25.

Paul Le Guen’s PSG controlled the second division leaders from the beginning of the match and went ahead from an own goal off Sidi Keita’s chest following a Jerome Rothen corner in the 14th minute.

Then Jeremy Clement rounded off the scoring in the second minute of injury time with a right-foot shot.

The PSG versus Bordeaux fixture is a rematch of last weekend’s league match which saw Bordeaux thrash PSG 4-0 from a simply superb performance from Laurent Blanc’s side.

Bordeaux, second in the French league behind Lyon, grabbed victory against second division Chateauroux through goals from Yoan Gouffran, not to be confused with talented team-mate Yoann Gourcuff, in the 24th minute and former Sunderland and Manchester United striker David Bellion 11 minutes after the break.

Chateauroux’s consolation goal through Jacob Mulenga in the 80th minute was too late to really trouble Blanc’s troops.

Blanc said it had been a good night for the goalscorers. On Gouffran’s first goal for the club, Blanc said: “For some time he (Gouffran) had chances but did not put them away but we could say that tonight he had a lot of chances and managed to convert one. It was good for him to open his account. Congratulations to him.

“David Bellion created chances too and both of those players had very favourable opportunities in front of goal.”