Christian Pulisic continued to dominate Chelsea’s Champions League round-of-16 tie against Lille with his second goal in as many knockout stage games.
After scoring in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, Pulisic struck when Chelsea needed him most, just as Lille started to turn the tide.
The French champions scored at home in the 38th minute thanks to a penalty from Burak Yılmaz to cut Chelsea’s aggregate lead to 2–1. But just before halftime, Pulisic struck for the equalizer on the day for the defending European champions.
In the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Jorginho threaded a perfect ball that cut through the Lille defense and found Pulisic. The American winger collected the ball inside the area and fired low past the Lille keeper from a harsh angle for the goal that made it 3–1 on aggregate.
For Pulisic, it’s the seventh Champions League goal of his career and the fourth time he’s scored in the knockout stage.
It’s also his sixth goal of the season for Chelsea in all competitions—and he’s shown a knack for the big stage with three of his last four goals coming against Liverpool and Lille in the two knockout-stage matches.
It was a good day for U.S. men’s national team stars as Gio Reyna assisted on the match-winner for Borussia Dortmund earlier in the day in Bundesliga action to pull the club within four points of league-leading Bayern Munich.
Another U.S. attacking star, Tim Weah, entered off the bench for Lille in the 58th minute, marking the first time that two U.S. internationals have played in the same Champions League knockout match.
