Chelsea complete half the task against Lille in the Champions League
Chelsea completed half of the task of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, beating Lille 2-0 on Tuesday night, in the first leg of the final.Kay Havertz (8) and Christian Pulisic (63) scored the goals.
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuquille ruled out Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku from the starting line-up 3-4-3, with Germany's Havartz playing in the front line between wingers Hakim Zeach and Christian Pulisic, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic in midfield, Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos
Alonso on both sides, while Thiago Silva led the back line alongside Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.
On the other hand, Lille resorted to a 4-3-3 play, with the defence of Mehmet Cilic, Jose Fonte, Zven Putman and Tyago Djalo, Cheika playing the role of quarterback, and Amadou Mfume Onana and Benjamin Andre, behind the attacking trio of Renato Sanchez, Jonathan David and Jonathan Bamba.
Chelsea almost opened the scoring in the fourth minute, when Azpilicueta sent a low ball in front of goal from the right, followed by the unattended Havertz away from goal.
Lille responded in the seventh minute, when Bamba lifted a cross ball, which was pushed away by Chelsea to reach Cheika, who fired a left shot away from the goal, and moments later Chelsea went off with a counterattack, and Pulisic passed to Havertz, who belonged to his sergeant before goalkeeper Jardim countered his attempt.
But Havertz made up for his two chances, opening the scoring in the eighth minute, when Morocco's Zeach executed a corner, which the German striker followed with his head into the net.
Rudiger converted a cross from Rento Sánchez's right side, but sent the ball just above his team's goal in the 11th minute, turning into a corner that created a trail after the Chelsea player put their bodies in front of four shots from Lille.
Onana continued a corner kick by Bamba, next to Chelsea's goal in the 15th minute, and Kante hinted at his teammate Alonso in the left survivor, passing him the ball, but the Spanish international shot in the goalkeeper's parking spot.
Lille tried to adjust the score in the 24th minute, but Christensen stood in front of Cheika's shot from the edge of the box in the 24th minute.
A few minutes later, sanchez got rid of Azpilicueta on the left side, before moving deep and firing a long-range shot over Chelsea in the 39th minute.
Chelsea looked in the second half with a quick start from Pulisic, who passed to Zeyash, but the latter was unable to shoot away from defender Putman.
Sánchez could not deal with a cross towards the far post from Bamba in the 49th minute, forcing Kovacic off the pitch and replacing Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Alonso's try bounced back from fullback Cilic in the 53rd minute, and Pulisic passed the ball to Hart, who shot from afar over Lille's goal in the 58th minute.
Sawol Niguez entered chelsea's squad in place of Zeach, before the home side were able to consolidate their lead in the 63rd minute, when Kante kicked the ball off, before passing in the left side of the box to Pulisic, who shot into the far corner of the goal to slip the moment the goalkeeper went out to confront him.
Lille involved veteran Turkish striker Borak Yilmaz, and Putman was about to narrow the gap in the 71st minute, but his header settled between goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The performance of the two teams was calm in the last 10 minutes, despite the entry of Timo Werner in the Chelsea squad, Hatem Ben Arfa in Lille's formation, and the latter's direct shot bounced from the blue team's defence in the 86th minute.
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