Troubled Chelsea ease past Lille into Champions League quarter-finals

Issued on: 16/03/2022 – 23:36Modified: 16/03/2022 – 23:34

Reeling from the impact of United kingdom govt sanctions imposed on their Russian billionaire proprietor Roman Abramovich, the London club appeared rattled as they fell behind in northern France to a initial-half Burak Yilmaz penalty.

Lille experienced offered on their own a probability of salvaging the tie pursuing their 2- defeat in the first leg at Stamford Bridge last month, but Christian Pulisic equalised on the evening in initially-fifty percent stoppage time and captain Azpilicueta acquired the winner in the 71st moment.

The reigning Ligue 1 champions go out, and next Paris Saint-Germain’s breathtaking exit previous 7 days it signifies there will be no French club in Friday’s draw for the Champions League quarter-finals.

In contrast, defending European champions Chelsea make it 3 Premier League golf equipment in the hat as they join Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis in the very last eight.

“It has not been a normal last few weeks but we have to do what is in our hands, which is practice the finest we can. Tonight it was a challenging activity and of training course we are happy to go as a result of,” Azpilicueta informed British broadcaster BT Activity.

“This team fights against everything, we know we have to do the greatest we can on the pitch, we stick with each other and ideally stop up obtaining a incredibly great year.”

Mentor Thomas Tuchel had insisted there could be no excuses for his workforce in spite of the Blues remaining still left in turmoil soon after Abramovich’s belongings had been frozen, with Chelsea only remaining allowed to go on functioning by the British government under a exclusive licence.

They have been banned from selling tickets and were being explained to they could not spend much more than £20,000 ($26,300) per match on travel expenditures, throwing their plans for this vacation throughout the English Channel into some disarray.

Ahead of kick-off on Wednesday it emerged that the Ricketts family, homeowners of Key League Baseball team the Chicago Cubs, have been primary a consortium hunting to get the club while British athletics excellent Sebastian Coe introduced his involvement in a rival bid.

Penalty offers Lille hope

On the pitch Lille looked decided to incorporate to Chelsea’s woes as they started at an superb tempo and Yilmaz 2 times arrived near in the early phases.

The website visitors missing Danish defender Andreas Christensen to personal injury just following the half-hour mark, and his substitution, Trevoh Chalobah, was booked for pulling down Jonathan David in just seconds of coming on.

Lille then received a penalty in the 38th minute when Italian referee Davide Massa was alerted by the VAR to a handball in the box by Jorginho.

He pointed to the spot immediately after examining the visuals, and veteran Turkish striker Yilmaz made no blunder.

Still the dwelling facet, crucially, could not hold their lead until eventually the crack.

In the 3rd additional moment Jorginho slid a marvelous go into the path of Pulisic in the box, and the United States international found the far corner.

That took the sting out of the game and Lille’s remaining hopes of a comeback ended up finished when they shed two of their defenders, Zeki Celik and Sven Botman, to damage just before the hour mark.

Xeka rattled the post with a header from a Yilmaz cross in the 63rd moment but just like their only past previous-16 look –- a defeat in opposition to Manchester United in 2007 -– Lille located English opposition to be much too sturdy.

Chelsea sealed the gain on the night when substitute Mason Mount’s cross from the left was turned in by the knee of Azpilicueta at the again post, and the skipper ran throughout to celebrate with the travelling aid large in the considerably corner of the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

© 2022 AFP