It’s easy to play when you’ve got nothing to lose. French champions Lille gave it a good go against Chelsea in an attempt to overturn the two-goal deficit from Stamford Bridge. But regardless of all their off-field problems, Chelsea still have a world-class side that’s very difficult to beat.Mason Mount has goal contributions in Chelsea’s last 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 Champions League knockout rounds in a row…20/21 Quarterfinal ✅ 20/21 Semifinal ✅20/21 Final ✅21/22 Round of 16 ✅ pic.twitter.com/tCIk7suBEa— LDN (@LDNFootbalI) March 16, 2022 The most the Dogues could do is to give the UEFA Champions League holders a few scares, score first, but ultimately fall to a 2-1 defeat on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.The hosts took a deserved lead from the penalty spot after Jorginho had handled the ball in the area. Burak Yilmaz netted from the spot as the home fans went into a frenzy. They believed.But on the other end, Jorginho made amends with a fantastic assist that allowed Christian Pulisic to fire in a great goal in first-half added time and make it 1-1 on the night. All Lille’s first-half efforts were made void as the gap widened again to two goals. The timing of Pulisic’s goal was particularly demoralising.Au stade Pierre Mauroy, le losc affronte Chelsea pour le 8e retour de ligue des champions, avec 2 buts d’écart à remonter pour se qualifier, pic.twitter.com/xuOART0jnR— Pierre Beauvillain (@beauvillainp) March 16, 2022 Once again, Lille were left with nothing to lose. And once again, they went for all or nothing.Chelsea were happy to sit back, soak up the pressure and try to hit the French team on the counter-attack. By doing that, they invited some unnecessary risk and were nearly made to pay – twice! Yilmaz and Xeka had headed attempts that came close, but Edouard Mendy survived both of them. Lille fans will particularly rue Xeka’s attempt that looked destined for the net only to bounce off the post.Captain fantastic! 😤🔴 1-2 💛 [78’] #LilChe pic.twitter.com/tsCTDmK49P— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 16, 2022 Thomas Tuchel’s team continued to wait for a chance to put the game beyond doubt and the chance came with 20 minutes remaining. Substitute Mason Mount delivered a great ball from the left wing and captain Cesar Azpilicueta knocked it in with his knee past Leo Jardim to spark celebrations of the travelling fans.They may be facing all sorts of sanctions, restrictions and frankly unneeded stigma, but Chelsea keep doing what they do best – win football matches. Tonight they booked their place in the Champions League last eight.The quarter-finals draw will be made on Friday.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUERound of 16, second legTuesday, 8 MarchBayern – Salzburg 7-1 (4-0)/Lewandowski 12 (p), 21 (p), 23, Gnabry 31, Muller 54, 83, Sane 85 – Kjaergaard 71/Liverpool – Inter 0-1 (0-0)/Lautaro 61/Wednesday, 9 MarchReal Madrid – PSG 3-1 (0-1)/Benzema 61, 76, 78 – Mbappe 39/Manchester City – Sporting 0-0Tuesday, 15 MarchAjax – Benfica 0-1 (0-0)/Nunez 77/Man.Utd. – Atl.Madrid 0-1 (0-1)/Lodi 41/Wednesday, 16 MarchJuventus – Villareal 0-3 (0-0)/Moreno 77 pen, Pau Torres 85, Danjuma 90+2 pen/LOSC Lille – Chelsea 1-2 (1-1)/Yilmaz 38 pen – Pulisic 45+3, Azpilicueta 71/
