Chelsea navigated some brief scares at the Stade Pierre Mauroy to reach the last eight of the Champions League for the second season running under Thomas Tuchel.
The reigning European Champions responded to Burak Yilmaz's 38-minute penalty well to reclaim their two-goal lead, silence the boisterous home crowd and make the final period of the contest a stroll.
Christian Pulisic's neat finish on the stroke of half-time finished a sublime Jorginho pass before Cesar Azpilicueta's perfectly placed knee met a vicious Mason Mount cross for the game's winner. The victory makes it five in a row in all competitions, heading into Saturday's FA Cup Quarter-Final with Middlesbrough.
READ MORE: Paul Scholes' desperate Thomas Tuchel plea sums up why Chelsea boss would snub Manchester United
READ MORE: Patrick Vieira has already solved Thomas Tuchel's major N'Golo Kante concern amid takeover worry
Tuchel made five changes to the team that faced Newcastle on Sunday, switching to a 3-5-2 formation with Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante and Jorginho forming a midfield trio with Pulisic and Kai Havertz up top.
The victory also means Thomas Tuchel has set a new record for wins in his first 50 games in the competition. As Nizaar Kinsella pointed out on Twitter, Zinedine Zidane's record was 31, and Tuchel has now won 32.
As Tuchel awaits where he will be driving his bus to next, let's look at CareFreeChelsea's Good, Bad and Ugly for Lille.
Good: Pulisic's Tuchel priority clear
Christian Pulisic's neat finish at the end of the first half silenced the Lille crowd and restored a crucial two-goal advantage on aggregate heading into the interval.
The American's neat movement rounded off a slick passing move, best orchestrated by Jorginho, who made up for his unfortunate handball to gift Lille a penalty. The Italian executed a Cesc Fabregas-Esque pass for the second game running, feeding Pulisic, who found the corner in style.
This strike means Pulisic has now matched Eden Hazard's entire Champions League goal tally. More importantly, it demonstrated how deadly the winger can be inside the box, showcasing his good off-ball movement and clinical finishing.
Tuchel's priority with Pulisic should be goals, goals and more goals. As our very own Jake Stokes noted in our post-match reaction stream for the game, he could fill a Raheem Sterling role at Chelsea.
Bad: Midfield trio
Tuchel abandoned the midfield trio at half-time by taking Kovacic off for Mount, and it was the right decision. Like we saw earlier this season with the 3-5-2, it tends to get overwhelmed, too safe in possession and causes the attacking two to become isolated.
Pulisic's goal was a wonderful moment of precision but bringing Mount on added further pressure to the Lille defence, which eventually paid off when the Cobham graduate created the second for Azpilicueta. Going for the 3-4-2-1 or some variation of a 4-3-3 feels more suitable.
Ugly: Another Christensen injury
After an awkward landing, Andreas Christensen was forced off in the first half, replaced by Trevoh Chalobah. In recent months, the Dane has suffered a few injury setbacks, keeping him out of the team whilst others have impressed.
The unfortunate thing for Christensen is all the speculation surrounding his summer exit to Barcelona could mean his final weeks as a Chelsea player might pass without much fuss.
It is easy to forget that he was embarking on the strongest run of his career at this stage last season, eventually called upon to replace Thiago Silva in the Champions League final and put in a wonderful performance. I hope you get better soon, Andreas; there's still time for some big performances.
