Christian Pulisic scores as Chelsea advance past Lille in Champions League round of 16

Updated: May 17, 2023, 04:58 am

Christian Pulisic scored as Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory away to Lille on Wednesday to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Lille opened the scoring through a Burak Yilmaz penalty on 38 minutes to cut their aggregate deficit to 2-1, but Pulisic provided a cool finish on the stroke of half-time to restore Chelsea's two-goal cushion.

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Defender Cesar Azpilicueta scored a winner on 71 minutes as he slotted home a back post cross from Mason Mount, helping Thomas Tuchel's side run out to a 4-1 victory on aggregate.

Chelsea played the tie amid the club's potential sale. UEFA had to seek clarification from the European Union that the fixture could go ahead after they followed the U.K. in sanctioning Abramovich on Tuesday.

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.

Chelsea players celebrate after scoring a goal against Lille in the Champions League.
Chelsea players celebrate after scoring a goal against Lille in the Champions League.
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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.

The goal meant Pulisic tied Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez for most goal in the Champions League by a CONCACAF international.

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 Mount's cross bounced off Azpilicueta's knee into the top corner to end Lille's hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.