Chelsea may depend on Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz for objectives with misfiring Romelu Lukaku rested.
The London membership resumed its Champions League title defence by cruising to a 2-0 victory over Lille this morning (AEDT) to take management of the spherical of 16 matchup.
Havertz took solely eight minutes to go Chelsea in entrance by assembly Hakim Ziyech’s nook.
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Pulisic latched onto N’Golo Kante’s move with a clipped effort within the 63rd minute to make sure Chelsea has a two objective cushion to take into the second leg subsequent month in France.
The benefit of Chelsea’s victory mirrored their standing this season.
Whereas Chelsea is third within the Premier League, Lille is mid-table in its French title defence.
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Chelsea supervisor Thomas Tuchel stated fatigue was the explanation for leaving out Lukaku, the membership file A$187 million offseason signing who touched the ball solely seven occasions within the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on the weekend.
Lukaku did not come off the bench towards Lille.
“He appeared slightly exhausted and you need to take into account that he is performed lots,” Tuchel stated.
In the meantime, Dusan Vlahovic wanted simply 31 seconds to point out Europe why Juventus selected him to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Serbia striker had a dream debut within the Champions League, scoring an outstanding objective after his first contact with the ball in a 1-1 draw at Villarreal.
His objective had the weather of strikes that solely gamers of Ronaldo’s calibre can pull off, combining energy, a way of the second and that additional dose of confidence meaning no scoring probability, nevertheless slim, ought to go to waste.
After utilizing his chest to manage a protracted move from Danilo, the 22-year-old striker didn’t hesitate to instantly tackle centre again pair Pau Torres and Raul Albiol.
He used one contact to organize his shot taken together with his weaker proper foot whereas he spun towards the objective.
The low effort grazed the foot of a defender earlier than squirting in at an angle previous goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
It was his second objective with Juventus because the workforce secured his A$110 million switch from Fiorentina close to the tip of the January switch window to discover a high scorer after Ronaldo’s exit 5 months earlier than within the offseason.
“It was big to attain on my debut. It was very emotional,” Vlahovic stated.
“Nevertheless, I can’t be 100 per cent glad as a result of we have now not received the sport.”
Dani Parejo leveled for Villarreal within the 66th minute, leaving the playoff poised for the decider in Italy with the away objective rule scrapped this season.
“After they rating within the first minute, it ruins your sport plan. Besides, we knew hold in there and go for the match,” Parejo stated.
“To attract 1-1 after ranging from behind, I’m glad with how we performed and the probabilities we created towards a large like Juventus.”
Juventus is attempting to succeed in the quarterfinals for the primary time since 2018-19 after dropping within the spherical of 16 previously two seasons.
Unai Emery has Villarreal, final season’s Europa League champion, again within the knockout rounds of Europe’s elite membership competitors for the primary time in 13 years.
The Spanish workforce will hope to have striker Gerard Moreno, now injured, again for the second leg in Turin on March 16.
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