Lille boss Joceyln Gourvennec on Tuesday urged his players to believe they can overturn a two-goal deficit against Chelsea and advance to the Champions League quarter-final for the first time.
Gourvennec made the challenge to his squad less than a week after Real Madrid faced a similar disadvantage in their last-16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain but managed to score three goals in 17 minutes and progress to the last eight.
“This is a tournament where unreal things happen;” said Gourvennec ahead of Wednesday night’s tie against the reigning European champions.
“Comebacks can happen. We’ve seen them before and we saw one last week in Madrid. Even if Chelsea appear better than us on paper and are leading, we can still come back. We can still dream.”
Gourvennec’s men go into the second leg at the Stade Pierre Mauroy on the back of a goalless draw in Ligue 1 against Saint-Etienne on Friday night while Chelsea warmed up for the fixture with a last gasp win over Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.
“Chelsea weren’t brilliant against Newcastle but they still won so it shows that you don’t always have to be good," added Gourvennec.
"It will be a historic night for us – the chance to go into the last eight in front of our supporters. We have to believe that we can go through.”
The west Londoners enter the tie in administrative disarray and with uncertainty hanging over the club following the British government’s decision to sanction Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich over what it said were his close links to the Russian president Vladimir Putin who ordered his country's armed forces into Ukraine on 24 February.
Though Abramovich has always denied those ties, the club has been put up for sale and is operating under strict conditions which dictate the amount of money that can be spent on travel to away games.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said: "We're trying to be as professional as we can within the framework that we have been given. But as long as we have shirts and as long as we are a team, we will be competitive and we will fight for our success."
