Lille 1-2 Chelsea, Champions League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Chelsea set up to contain the expected threat from the home side, who certainly came out with plenty of intent and purpose both on and off the ball. The 3-5-2 was working as designed in that respect however, restricting them to little in the way of actually dangerous — even with a few turnovers and giveaways in our own half.

A dirty foul by Burak Yilmaz in an “aerial” “duel” with Andreas Christensen just past the half-hour mark forced the latter into an awkward landing and, not long after, off with an injury however, and that caused a temporary lapse at the back, with the just-on Chalobah giving away a free kick and Jorginho blocking a shot partially with his arm in resulting scramble. Yilmaz himself dispatched the penalty with extreme prejudice.

Chelsea needed half-time to regroup and switch things up, but just as the three minutes of added-on time were about to expire, Jorginho produced yet another key pass and Christian Pulisic guided it low into the far corner with unerring laser-sighted precision.

Chelsea looked a bit more comfortable in the second half, especially once Azpilicueta finished off a cross from Mason Mount — though Lille did hit the post from another defensive lapse just before then, which possibly would’ve made things very different.

Chelsea saw out the final 15-20 minutes without too much trouble, booking our ticket to the quarterfinals. 2-1 winners on the night, 4-1 on aggregate.

Carefree.

• Plenty of changes from the weekend, including a formation change to 3-5-2. Back to more of a 3-4-3 at half-time, with Mount on instead of Kovačić.
• Lukaku, Loftus-Cheek, Ziyech also get run-outs
• Christensen injury hopefully nothing too serious
• The draw for the quarterfinals is Friday. Any team can be paired with any other: one of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Benfica, or Villarreal await. Villarreal beat Juventus away, 3-0 (!) in the other game tonight.
• Next up: Middlesbrough away in the FA Cup quaterfinals
• KTBFFH

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