Jacob Steinberg was at Stamford Bridge this evening. His report has landed, so feel free to click away. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Thomas Tuchel speaks to BT. “With away goals, it would be better! We have another clean sheet. It was well deserved, it was hard work to not allow chances, they were a strong opponent. There was a little bit of up and down, some very good moments, some weak moments, but we never gave big chances away. A tough game but a deserved win. We were a bit passive and too deep, and we suffered in ball possession. But we kept the belief, we fought back, and scored a very good second goal.” He doesn’t have any news on the fitness of Kovacic and Ziyech. “We have a lot of days to recover. Let’s see, I hope they will be ready for Sunday.”
Kai Havertz talks to BT Sport. “We knew it was a difficult game. They played very good football. The first half was difficult for us. It’s half time now, and we have to win there as well. We have a lot of good strikers, so it’s always good to change, to not make it easy for the opponent. We didn’t play our best football, it was hard, but the win is the most important thing, and it’s another competition on Sunday. We have a chance to win another trophy on Sunday, we hope to win this game.”
That’s a fine result for the reigning European and world champions, who now have one foot in the quarter-finals. A calm and confident display, with Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante the star men. Lille didn’t warm Edouard Mendy’s hands once this evening, a fact that suggests they’ve got quite the job on if they’re to turn this around at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in three weeks’ time. Chelsea can now attend to Sunday’s League Cup final against Liverpool in a positive frame of mind, although they’ll be hoping Mateo Kovacic’s injury wasn’t as bad as it looked.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Lille
The whistle goes, and Chelsea take a healthy two-goal lead to France for the second leg in three weeks’ time!
90 min +5: Mendy restarts the game ... and slips while kicking the ball, sending it straight to the nearby Ben Arfa. The Chelsea keeper is very fortunate that the Lille man can’t control.
90 min +4: Silva goes down to receive some treatment, a clock-management masterclass.
90 min +3: Ben Arfa drives down the left and nearly wins another corner. Nearly. Pressure off, though Chelsea could do with hearing the final whistle, because the visitors are desperate for that narrative-changing late goal.
90 min +1: In the first of five extra minutes, the corner’s worked back to Gudmundsson, who may have just broken some of the windows in the Chelsea hotel with one of the wildest volleys you’ll see for a while.
90 min: Bamba hoicks in. Chelsea clear ... but then Kante brings the bouncing ball down with an arm, and it’s another free kick, on the left this time. Ben Arfa takes long, forcing Havertz to head out for a corner.
89 min: Saul needlessly clips Ben Arfa out on the Lille right. A chance for the hosts to load the box, in search of a late goal that would completely alter the complexion of this tie.
88 min: Azpilicueta, out on the right, floats towards Havertz at the far stick. Celik does well to get in front of the Chelsea man, who was winding his neck back and waiting to head home from close range. Corner.
87 min: ... Werner, breaking down the right, is cynically hauled back by Ben Arfa. In true London bus style, you wait 83 minutes for a booking, then two come along at once.
86 min: Gudmundsson strides down the left and nearly gets clear of Silva, but the Brazilian veteran extends a leg to poke out for a corner. The set piece is worked back to Ben Arfa, who shoots through a crowded box. Deflected. Corner take two. This one’s cleared by Chelsea, and ...
85 min: Havertz and Werner combine down the inside-right channel and into the box. They continue to busy themselves until the former reaches the byline and scoops a cross into Leo Jardim’s arms.
83 min: The first booking of the evening, as Loftus-Cheek clips Bamba with a late lunge.
82 min: In terms of possession, it’s been exactly 50-50 up to this point ... but Chelsea have a cutting edge, something Lille signally have not.
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81 min: Both teams make a couple of changes. Chelsea send on Werner and Sarr in place of Alonso and Pulisic, while Sanches and the disappointing David make way for Ben Arfa and Zhegrova.
80 min: Kante slips wide right for Azpilicueta, whose low cross deflects out for a corner ... or is it a goal kick? Goal kick. Must have pinballed back off the Chelsea captain.
78 min: Sanches works hard down the right to earn himself a bit of space. But with options available either side, he carelessly clanks the ball out for a goal kick. Lille have played some attractive stuff in the middle of the park, but they’ve been no use whatsoever in the final third. Mendy hasn’t had his hands warmed once.
76 min: Djalo has picked up a knock and is replaced by Gudmundsson.
75 min: Havertz is shoulder barged into the advertising hoardings by Botman. An old-fashioned but legal challenge. Havertz takes a while to regain his composure, but he’s OK to continue.
73 min: Lille deal with the corner in a much less frantic style.
72 min: Saul crosses low from the left. Nobody in blue attacks the ball as it trundles through the six-yard box. Nobody in white deals with it, either, until Botman slaps wide right in a panic.
70 min: ... so David takes things into his own hands, and probes down the left. His speculative shot earns a corner. Bamba takes. Half cleared, back to Bamba, who loops take two towards the far stick. Botman wins a header, but it’s a soft one that wafts into Mendy’s arms.
69 min: Lille enjoy a bit of possession, but it’s all in their own half. Chelsea are more than happy to sit and watch them go nowhere.
67 min: Chelsea were beginning to look a little ragged before their second goal. Now they’ve got new reserves of energy and are first to most things.
65 min: Lille respond with an attacking substitution, sending on Burak Yilmaz in place of Onana, striker for attacking midfielder.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Lille (Pulisic 63)
Pulisic scores this, but it’s all about Kante, who bursts down the middle from deep, ball glued to his toe. He reaches the edge of the D, and slips to Pulisic on his left. Pulisic takes a touch to steady himself and draw Leo Jardim, before dinking over the keeper and into the bottom right. Lovely finish, but what a run by Kante!
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61 min: Lille stroke it around awhile. Their fans respond by giving it plenty.
60 min: Ziyech comes back on, then goes straight down again. He hauls himself back up, and trudges off sadly, Saul Niguez coming on in his place.
58 min: With Ziyech off the field of play, still receiving treatment, Havertz opts to go it alone. He wheechs down the left at warp speed, before flashing a rising shot over the bar from a tight angle.
57 min: Now Ziyech is down feeling his heel. He suddenly pulled up with nobody near him.
55 min: Footage of Kovacic limping extremely gingerly down the tunnel and towards the treatment room. He looks in a fair bit of pain. Not a great sight for Chelsea with the League Cup final against Liverpool coming up on Sunday.
53 min: Kante diddles into some space down the right. He loops across the face of goal. Alonso, bombing in from the right, creams a low volleyed drive towards the bottom left. Celik does extremely well to block. That was heading in, and at some pace to boot.
52 min: Lille are winning the majority of the 50-50s in midfield right now. The home crowd are a little on-edge as a result.
51 min: Kovacic looks to have tweaked something. He’s replaced by Loftus-Cheek.
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49 min: Bamba twists and turns down the left and somehow whips across to the far stick, despite Azpilicueta sticking to him like glue. The ball drops to Sanches, who tries to cream a volley from an extremely tight angle. Nope! Goal kick.
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47 min: Lille go up the other end, probing down the left through David. Nothing doing. Chelsea come straight back at the visitors, Azpilicueta whooshing a low shot-cum-cross into the arms of Leo Jardim from a tight position on the right. A sense that both teams have been given the old half-time hairdryer.
46 min: Pulisic romps down the middle and prepares to shoot. He’s brazenly nudged in the back by Andre. No free kick, though, because the ball breaks right to Ziyech, who has a shooting opportunity in the box. His attempt to find the bottom left is blocked by Botman.
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Chelsea get the second half underway. No half-time changes. “There aren’t many footballing stories more heartening than Renato Sanches’ revival at Lille,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Having seen him lost at Swansea, passing to the advertising hoardings and all that, it’s wonderful that he reached safe harbour.”
Half-time entertainment. A big game tomorrow night between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United. Which Atleti will turn up? Which United? Sid Lowe previews an unpredictable but mouthwatering tie.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Lille
Chelsea started fast, getting their reward through Havertz, but the French side have since worked their way into the match. Fascinating second half coming right up!
45 min: Chelsea have the ball in the net, but it’s disallowed. Ziyech dances his way along the byline, to the right of goal, beating Sanches and cutting back for Havertz, who artfully backflicks into the net. But Ziyech had run the ball out for a goal kick. Up goes the flag.
43 min: Happy to report that Tuchel has a fresh stick of gum, and is enjoying it right now.
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41 min: Bamba scampers away from Alonso down the right. He looks to find David in the middle, but his cross is deflected by the ever-alert Silva into the hands of Mendy. For a second, Chelsea looked open and vulnerable. Silva accordingly gives Alonso the what-for.
40 min: Sanches bustles in from the left and goes for the top-right corner from distance. He doesn’t get enough curl on his shot and the ball sails harmlessly into the Matthew Harding Stand.
39 min: See 37 min. Since the goal, Chelsea haven’t worked Leo Jardim much, either.
37 min: The game has gone a little flat. Lille will be fairly pleased with the way this is going right now.
35 min: Onana has a dig from distance. Easy for Mendy, who otherwise has had very little to do.
33 min: Lille paint some pretty triangles in midfield, Sanches seemingly at every other point. They don’t go anywhere in particular, however. On the touchline, Tuchel rants and raves at his team, his hunk of chewing gum flying out of his mouth in the comedic style. Oh for the ability to add slide-whistle FX to the MBM. One day, perhaps.
31 min: Given the start Chelsea enjoyed, Lille have done well to quieten the Stamford Bridge crowd. All is calm at the moment.
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29 min: Kante snaffles possession and slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Ziyech, who enters the box but, in attempting to switch feet, allows Botman to whip the ball off his toe.
27 min: Another glorious Rudiger diagonal sails wide right. Ziyech takes it down gracefully, white paint on his boots, and wins a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but the balletic manner in which Ziyech controlled that rake was lovely to watch.
25 min: Lille are seeing plenty of the ball now. A fair bit of time is spent probing at the front of the Chelsea box. There’s no way through, but for now, the French side look to have steadied the previously listing ship.
23 min: 20:22 comes and goes. Our perfect palindrome thing was never going to happen, was it? Not least because Timothy Weah is on the bench. The plus side: no portals open to another dimension, and the space-time continuum remains intact.
21 min: Sanchez spins into space in the centre circle and sprays a delightful first-time pass down the left, hoping to release Bamba on goal. He would be through, but Mendy is alert, and races out of the box to blooter clear, just before the Lille forward can latch onto the pass. Great football all round.
19 min: Ziyech skedaddles down the right and pulls back for Kante, who loops instantly towards the far stick. Alonso races in from the left to meet it, attempting to steer a sidefoot across Leo Jardim and into the bottom right. His weak shot flies straight at the keeper.
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17 min: David takes a quick free kick but clanks the ball straight out of play. Ironic cheers all round. The home fans enjoyed that.
16 min: Space for Alonso out on the left. He curls into the middle, in the hope of finding Ziyech. Botman batters clear. Lille go up the other end, Onana nearly finding Celik in space down the right. Chelsea shut the door just in time. It’s a fast and open game.
14 min: Lille win another corner, out on the right. Bamba whips in strongly. Onana can only bundle his effort wide left. The French champions appear to have settled after their extremely shaky start.
12 min: Lille respond magnificently to going behind. First up, some space for Celik down the right. He can’t find David in the middle. Chelsea half clear. Sanches curls in from the right. Rudiger shanks hysterically over his own bar. From the resulting corner, some pinball, then finally an optimistic effort from distance by David flies over the bar. Hell of a start to this match.
10 min: Three touches, three chances, one goal. If those aren’t Havertz’s actual stats, they’re not far off it. The TV director, understandably from a professional viewpoint, rather less so when factoring humanity into it, cuts from a cavorting Havertz to Lukaku. He’s got the thousand-yard stare on. Poor man’s out of sorts, leave him be.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Lille (Havertz 8)
Ziyech sends an outswinger towards the near post. Havertz rises highest, and plants an unstoppable header into the bottom left. He could easily have scored three already. One will do!
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7 min: Havertz is undeterred by that early miss. He strides down the inside right, cuts into the box, and curls powerfully for the bottom left. It’s heading in, but Leo Jardim extends fully to tip around the post. And from the corner ...
6 min: Azpilicueta clumsily takes down Bamba out on the right. The resulting free kick is curled into the Chelsea box. Onana competes for the high ball but can’t guide it goalwards. A decent response from the visitors.
4 min: Rudiger, quarterbacking from deep, rakes a glorious diagonal pass wide right for Azpilicueta, who whistles a vicious low cross into the mixer. Havertz, scorer of the winners in both the Champions League and Club World Cup finals, should score, six yards out, but leans back and hoicks over the bar. What a move, and one heck of a chance.
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2 min: Chelsea come again, Rudiger embarking on one of his Beckenbaueresque power strides down the middle of the park, then slipping wide left for Alonso, who crosses deep. Neither Azpilicueta nor Havertz can bring the ball down at the far stick. Fast start by the hosts, though.
1 min: Chelsea get on the front foot immediately, Pulisic grooving down the left and slipping infield for Ziyech, who nearly releases Havertz with a clever ball down the inside-left channel. Not quite. Lille clear their lines.
Lille get the first leg of this round of 16 tie underway ... but only after both teams take the knee. Stamford Bridge responds with warm applause. There’s no room for racism.
The teams are out! Chelsea are in royal blue with a shiny new gold Fifa Club World Cup badge; reigning French champions Lille sport second-choice white, an ersatz Real Madrid / Leeds United / Preston North End. A cracking atmosphere at the Bridge. We’re one bespoke blast of Zadok the Priest away from kick-off. In the meantime, let’s join Neil McGwyre in his nostalgic reverie: “Just looking at the picture of Stamford Bridge, I had to wonder what you’d have more trouble convincing the yoof of today was true: that this was Stamford Bridge before its rebuilding by Cuddly Ken et al, or that those four gentlemen cavorting in the foreground are, in fact, professional footballers. I punched a few keys on the Google machine and it seems that Graham Roberts was about seven years younger in that photograph than Cristiano Ronaldo is today! I assume that Ronaldo’s diet has contained fewer portions of chips and pints of mild.”
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Thomas Tuchel has Romelu Lukaku’s back, telling BT Sport: “I felt him a little bit tired, a bit exhausted. He played a lot, a lot of extra time, a lot of travelling. [The Palace game] was not the best performance, it was a difficult game for him. But maybe it is easier to come from the bench and turn things around, if needed.”
Palindrome Corner with Kurt Barker. “Tim Weah, who wears No. 22 for Lille, turns 22 today, on 22/2/22. 2-2 draw. It is destiny.” Kurt, that’s blown my tiny brain sky high. Here’s to Weah scoring tonight after 22 minutes, at 20:22 GMT. Such a feat may well crack open a portal to a parallel universe. Perhaps a place where they still park cars around the pitch?
Chelsea will tonight take to the Stamford Bridge pitch as champions of the world for the first time. On BT Sport, the aforementioned Joe Cole, formerly of said parish, has been reminiscing about the club’s giddy rags-to-riches story. “I remember being a ball boy by the Shed End, having to get a ball from under a car and throw it back ... and now look at the amount of trophies we have won!” Younger viewers currently midway through a double-take are invited to look at the evidence presented below.
Jacob called it: seven-touch sensation Romelu Lukaku has been dropped by Thomas Tuchel. The £97.5m striker took his heptaptych of touches against Crystal Palace last weekend. Just the two in the first half, and one of those was the kick-off. No surprise, then, that he’s been benched by his manager, despite Tuchel claiming that the Belgian “will always be part of the solution”. Subtraction can be part of a solution, of course.
Lukaku is one of three changes to the side named for that now-notorious trip to Selhurst Park. Jorginho and Malang Sarr also drop to the bench. Stepping up: Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic and captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
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The teams
Chelsea: Mendy, Christensen, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso, Ziyech, Havertz, Pulisic.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Jorginho, Lukaku, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Bettinelli, Chalobah, Saul, Mount, Kenedy, Sarr, Vale.
Lille: Leo Jardim, Celik, Fonte, Botman, Djalo, Onana, Xeka, Andre, Sanches, David, Bamba.
Subs: Grbic, Gudmundsson, Ben Arfa, Yilmaz, Lihadji, Gomes, Weah, Zhegrova, Bradaric, Raux.
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain).
The teamsheets should be through any moment now. Our man Jacob Steinberg, like everybody else, is on tenterhooks: “Just heading to Stamford Bridge and waiting for team news, but it’s going to be interesting to see if Romelu Lukaku is in. He might be getting as many touches as me tonight.”
Preamble
It’s fair to say that Roman Abramovich may have one or two other things on his mind right now. Or maybe this is a welcome distraction. Either way, world champions Chelsea continue their defence of the Champions League against Lille, currently 11th in Ligue 1 and in the knockout stage for the first time since 2007, when the French side lost home and away to English opposition. It was Manchester United then, and both bookies and critics strongly fancy Chelsea now. The Derby de Joe Cole kicks off at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
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