Lille vs Chelsea LIVE: Champions League result and final score after Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta goals
Burak Yilmaz put the French side ahead, but Pulisic and Azpilicueta responded to put the holders into the quarter-finals
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Holders Chelsea made light of their off-pitch problems to reach the Champions League quarter-finals by beating Lille 2-1 away on Wednesday to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory.
The Premier League side, playing amid sanctions imposed on their Russian owner Roman Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, eased through thanks to goals by Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta.
French champions Lille dominated for long spells and opened the scoring thanks to a Burak Yilmaz penalty in the opening half, but lacked precision up front and paid dearly for lapses in concentration.
Chelsea, operating on a special licence from the British government that has limited their spending and impacted their operations, showed great composure to ease into the last eight.
Lille had made the better start to the match.
Jocelyn Gouvennec’s side put Chelsea on the back foot as Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante struggled to take control of the midfield.
Lille were rewarded in the 38th minute when they were awarded a penalty following a VAR review after a Jorginho handball in the area.
The 36-year-old Yilmaz, the third oldest scorer in the Champions League knockout stages after Paolo Maldini and Ryan Giggs, buried the spot-kick into the top corner to give the hosts a deserved lead and high hopes of an upset after losing the first leg 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Lille, who had not conceded a goal in their three Ligue 1 games since the first leg, let their guard down, however, and Chelsea punished them with their first shot on target as Pulisic collected a fine through ball from Jorginho to score with a low shot three minutes into first-half stoppage time.
Although they were hit by injuries which forced Sven Botman and Zeki Celik to leave the pitch, Lille applied more pressure after the break and Yilmaz wasted two clear chances.
Chelsea were far more ruthless and after 71 minutes Mason Mount’s cross bounced off Azpilicueta’s knee into the top corner to end Lille’s hopes of reaching the last eight.
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Chelsea ahead...
...in the WSL. Erin Cuthbert has just put a third into the back of Everton’s net inside the opening half hour as Emma Hayes’ side flex their strength on Merseyside. They’ve got a couple of games in hand on league leaders Arsenal, and, barring an extraordinary turnaround, it appears they’ll be narrowing the gap to two points tonight.
Red Mist
It looks like the Lille fans are very much up for this one.
Thomas Tuchel on the second leg
“The mood is good,’ Tuchel said of his players this week. “We couldn’t have two more different games than we had, in Norwich and against Newcastle in terms of playing style and obstacles to overcome.
“We relied heavily on our skilful play and controlled the game versus Norwich, and we managed to win the game against Newcastle. This was a question of mentality, resilience and physicality, a question of focus and defending, being brave and staying committed.
“That makes any coach in the world very happy how we won this match, we won it late and yes, the mood is good.
“I am convinced that the team knows what it takes to be able to perform like this and produce results. When I say we allow ourselves to focus on what we control, I mean it. This is what we do in the training ground.
“Like I said, the focus is to take the responsibility for the people who take the responsibility that we are in a big club. There are hundreds of them. This is what we do in the moment.”
Plenty happening...
It’s a big old night of footballing action, with a couple of crunch Premier League fixtures also up for consumption on a Wednesday evening. We’ll have live updates of Liverpool’s trip to Arsenal as Jurgen Klopp’s side bid to close the gap to Manchester City at the top of the Premier League to just a single point - so get those tabs open and flick between the two to stay up to date:
Arsenal vs Liverpool LIVE: Latest Premier League updates
Follow all the live action and updates from the Emirates Stadium
Chelsea travel budget raised by government for Middlesbrough trip
A bit of news through in the last hour or so - the government has raised the budget for Chelsea’s trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Chelsea’s travel budget raised by government for Middlesbrough FA Cup tie
The Blues had been limited to a £20,000 budget for their trip north.
The man trying to stop them
He’s got a remarkable competition record - can Edouard Mendy keep Lille at bay?
Lille vs Chelsea
Looks like matching back fives from the two managers. It’ll be interesting to see how Lille play this. Surprise Ligue 1 winners last year, they haven’t managed to replicate that form this campaign, and while a two-goal deficit is a significant one, Chelsea’s mind may just be on other matters. A fast start could just add to their visitors’ unease.
Team News - Chelsea
For Chelsea, it is a single change to the side that lined up at Stamford Bridge three weeks ago. Perhaps as indication of Thomas Tuchel wishing to protect the lead in the tie, Hakim Ziyech is replaced by Mateo Kovacic, who forms a solid midfield trio with N’Golo Kante and Jorginho. As anticipated, Cesar Azplicueta and Marcos Alonso are included after overcoming recent illnesses.
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