Champions League: Chelsea come from behind to beat Lille, reach quarters

Villeneuve-d’Arc (France), March 17 (IANS): César Azpilicueta and Christian Pulisic were on target as holders Chelsea recovered from a goal deficit to beat French club Lille 2-1 and eased into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea came from behind to wrap up a 4-1 aggregate win and completed the quarter-final lineup for the event, joining Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid in progressing through their round of 16 ties. The last-eight in the event include three clubs each from Spain and England and one each from Germany and Portugal.

But for a long period on Wednesday night, it looked like England would have only two clubs remaining in the Champions League as Chelsea went behind.

The scoreline may look comfortable but it was not so easy as Chelsea had their credentials checked in northern France, especially after Burak Yilmaz fired Lille ahead from the penalty spot in the 38th minute.

But Chelsea were soon rocking as they levelled the score and went on to script victory.

Jorginho’s handball had led to the penalty and the midfielder quickly made amends just before the break, rounding off an intricate move with a lovely through ball that Pulišic collected before dispatching an unerring finish across goal into the bottom corner, according to a report on the Champions League website.

Lille were not done yet, beginning the second period with renewed purpose. Burak went close, Agim Zeka went closer with a header against the post, but Azpilicueta calmed Chelsea’s nerves as he turned in Mason Mount’s cross with his knee to wrap up the tie.

The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be made on Friday.

‘Lucky’ Villarreal stun Juventus to reach quarters

Spanish club Villarreal rode on some help from the woodwork and a brilliant performance by their goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli to stun former winner Juventus 3-0 and march into the Champions League quarter-finals for only the third time ever.

In a match played on Thursday (IST), Villarreal were forced to sit deep for extended periods before unleashing a stunning three-goal counter-punch in the closing 12 minutes at the Juventus Stadium here.

The match ended up looking like the perfect European away performance from Unai Emery’s men, but they needed Rulli to lay the foundation in the first half. The visiting goalkeeper denied Álvaro Morata and Dušan Vlahovic with fine saves inside the opening 20 minutes and was then grateful to see the latter’s cute shot come off the crossbar.

Rulli and Vlahovic were at it again before the interval, a point-blank stop on this occasion keeping the scores level, according to a report on UEFA’s official website.