Rennes stun Lille to reach French Cup semis

27 March 2014 22:31

Rennes shrugged off their Ligue 1 struggles to reach the French Cup semi-finals on Thursday with a 2-0 win over high-flying Lille.

Polish international Kamil Grosicki and Romain Alessandrini scored the goals that gave Rennes a last-four clash against second division Angers.

The result also brought an end to Lille's eight-match unbeaten run, a stretch which has helped them into third spot in the Ligue 1 table.

Monaco routed second division Lens 6-0 on Wednesday to also reach the semi-finals and keep their outside hopes of a league-and-cup double on track.

Monaco boss Claudio Ranieri, whose side are 10 points behind runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain in the Ligue 1 title race, made six changes from the team's last outing against Lille at the weekend.

But the changes made little difference to the outcome against a Lens team who are second in Ligue 2 and seeking a return to the top flight.

Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos scored Monaco's opener after 17 minutes and added his second of the night in the 69th minute.

Dimitar Berbatov, Emmanuel Riviere, Fabinho and Geoffrey Kondogbia were also on target for Monaco.

In the semi-finals, to be played on April 15 and 16, Monaco will face Guingamp.

Guingamp reached the last-four with a 2-0 win over Cannes, who had put out Saint-Etienne and Montpellier in earlier rounds, with Mustapha Yatabare scoring two late second-half goals.

Amateur side Cannes' hopes of an upset were dented eight minutes from the end of the first half when Lucas Roubah was sent off for a crunching tackle on Claudio Beauvue.

On Tuesday, Angers ended amateurs Moulins' hopes with a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win.

Source: AFP