Lyon wins penalty shootout to reach League Cup final

LYON, France (AP) — Seven-time French champion Lyon has a chance to end an eight-year trophy drought after qualifying for the League Cup final with a 4-3 win on penalties against Lille on Tuesday following a 2-2 draw.

Lyon will play either Paris Saint-Germain or Reims in the April 4 final at the Stade de France.

After Renato Sanches put Lille in front, forward Moussa Dembele leveled from the spot in the 17th minute. With five minutes left, Houssem Aouar held off a couple of Lille defenders and scored with a long-range strike to give Lyon a 2-1 lead.

But the hosts could not on as substitute Loic Remy scored from the spot deep in stoppage time against his former club after Rafael fouled Jonathan Bamba in the box. Facing a hostile crowd, the Lille striker kept his cool to send goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu the wrong way with a Panenka kick right in the middle of goal.

With no extra time being played in the League Cup, Tatarusanu made a diving save to his right to deny Bamba’s effort at the start of the shootout before Sanches fired wide. Lyon players converted all their kicks.

“We could have done without Lille’s equalizer, but a shootout was nice for our supporters,” said Lyon coach Rudi Garcia.

With six wins in seven matches in all competitions, Garcia has managed to turn Lyon’s fortunes around after an unimpressive start to the season marred by Memphis Depay’s season-ending injury. Garcia succeeded Sylvinho as coach in October.