Champions League: Pulisic, Havertz on target for Chelsea against Lille

Chelsea could rely on Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz for goals with misfiring Romelu Lukaku rested.

The London club resumed its Champions League title defence by cruising to a 2-0 victory over Lille on Tuesday to take control of the round of 16 tie heading into next month’s second leg.

Relishing an attacking role, Havertz took only eight minutes to head Chelsea in front by meeting Hakim Ziyech’s corner.

"We have a lot of good strikers, so it is also good to have a change and not make it easy for the opposition," Havertz said.

"Today it worked good and I enjoy every forward position."

The second in the 63rd minute was created by the dynamism of N’Golo Kante, who ran half the length of the pitch unchallenged before feeding Pulisic to finish with a shot clipped into the bottom corner.

"When N’Golo is driving like that, it’s just a question of keeping up with him," Pulisic said, "and I managed to do that and finish it off."

Kante’s contribution particularly pleased Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

"He’s struggled with belief and intensity in recent matches so it was good he stepped up today, Tuchel said. 

"You can see how big an impact he has when he’s in good shape.

The ease of Chelsea’s victory reflected their status this season. While Chelsea is third in the Premier League, Lille is mid-table in its French title defence.

"We lacked a little quality in the final ball and that cost us," Lille forward Jonathan David said.

Tuchel said fatigue was the reason for leaving out Lukaku, the club-record $135 million offseason signing who touched the ball only seven times in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. Lukaku didn’t come off the bench against Lille.

"After the match where everyone was focused on his few touches… it was not the moment to put him into the next fire," Tuchel said. 

"It was the moment to take a step back, that was the decision and that’s it."

"We have now had a strong win and a strong performance. We have now had a good win and all the questions are still about Romelu, so the focus is huge."

And it’s easier to rest Lukaku when there’s another forward who cost over $90 million to be able to rely on. Havertz, who scored Chelsea’s winner in the Champions League final last season, also scored the goal that sealed the Club World Cup title earlier this month.

"He has really stepped up," Tuchel said. 

"His work rate is immense, and the volume, the areas of the pitch that he covers for us is very, very good. He was again decisive, he created chances, got involved and was never shy of defending."

Juve held by VIllareal

In the other game of the night, Dusan Vlahovic needed just 31 seconds to show Europe why Juventus chose him to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Serbia striker had a dream debut in the Champions League on Tuesday, scoring a superb goal after his first contact with the ball in a 1-1 draw at Villarreal.

His goal had the elements of strikes that only players of Ronaldo’s calibre can pull off, combining power, a sense of the moment and that extra dose of confidence that means no scoring chance, however slim, should go to waste.

After using his chest to control a long pass from Danilo, the 22-year-old striker did not hesitate to immediately take on center-back pair Pau Torres and Ral Albiol. He used one touch to prepare his shot taken with his weaker right foot while he spun toward the goal. The low effort grazed the foot of a defender before squirting in at an angle past goalkeeper Gernimo Rulli.

It was his second goal with Juventus since the team secured his $80 million transfer from Fiorentina near the end of the January transfer window to find a top scorer after Ronaldo’s exit five months before in the offseason.

"It was huge to score on my debut. It was very emotional," Vlahovic said.

"However, I cannot be 100% satisfied because we have not won the game."

Dani Parejo leveled for Villarreal in the 66th minute, leaving the playoff poised for the decider in Italy with the away-goal rule scrapped this season.

Juventus is trying to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018-19 after losing in the round-of-16 in the past two seasons.

Unai Emery has Villarreal, last season’s Europa League champion, back in the knockout rounds of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in 13 years.

The Spanish team will hope to have striker Gerard Moreno, now injured, back for the second leg in Turin on March 16.