Chelsea came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at Lille in the Champions League, qualifying for the quarter-finals with an ultimately-comfortable aggregate victory.
The notion of this turning into a classic European clash under the lights was boosted by the vocal home fans, who eschewed the anti-Uefa booing of some of their contemporaries to join in with belting out the competition’s anthem before kick-off.
And the Lille players responded with a savvy first-half display in which they gave us good as they got.
Chelsea were forced into an early change when Andreas Christensen fell heavily after a high challenge with Burak Yilmaz, and replacement Trevoh Chalobah was booked within seconds of coming on for downing Jonathan David.
The visitors failed to clear the free-kick and Jorginho’s handball, initially ignored by referee Davide Massa, resulted in a spot-kick after a VAR review and Yilmaz duly buried his penalty.
With Lille back in the tie, it appeared as though Chelsea were desperate for the half-time whistle until a slick Jorginho pass found Christian Pulisic for a fine finish two minutes into stoppage time.
The Ligue 1 side first appeared flattened by the suckerpunch but came back into the tie as the second period progressed, Yilmaz heading narrowly wide before Xeka cracked a header against the post - when he really should have scored.
A second suckerpunch duly followed as Cesar Azpilicueta popped up at the back stick to bundle home and extend Chelsea’s aggregate lead to three goals. The Blues will discover their path to defending their crown on Friday.
