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Goal scorers among themselves: Kai Havertz celebrates together with Christian Pulisic
Photo: DAVID KLEIN / REUTERS
Comparing the game:
Chelsea FC's last league game was actually hardly worth mentioning, but after the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, a remarkable statistic circulated: striker Romelu Lukaku had played through, but only touched the ball seven times - once at kick-off .
"You would have had problems finding and using him," explained Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel.
So this time Lukaku's place in the top striker went to the busier Kai Havertz.
After eight minutes, he had already had five touches on the ball, missed two great chances - and scored the lead against OSC Lille with a header.
The result:
With a 2-0 (1-0) success behind them, the Blues go into the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League, which takes place on March 16 in Lille.
Here is the match report.
They're going to... Where?
Before the ball rolled at Stamford Bridge, it was the focus of the TV pictures: in close-up before the players got out of the entry tunnel.
Clearly legible on the ball: St. Petersburg.
The venue where the premier class final is set to take place at the end of May.
At least since the escalation in eastern Ukraine provoked by Russia, the award has been controversial.
Uefa kept open whether the final will really take place in Russia: A decision will be made "in due course".
It shouldn’t be easy: The association is linked through the major CL sponsor and Russian state-owned company Gazprom – as is defending champion Chelsea, owned by the oligarch Roman Abramovich since 2003.
First half:
The Havertz show started with a missed shot from five meters (4th minute), a flick saved by goalkeeper Léo Jardim from the corner got closer (7th).
Said corner kick gave Havertz the third opportunity, unmarked and with a running start, the national player headed Hakim Ziyech's cross into the goal.
With the lead behind them, the Londoners were able to play the way they like to play: measured, rarely with more effort than necessary – but never with more defensive gaps than an N'Golo Kanté can fill.
The boss watches:
A prominent guest had the best view of what was happening: national coach Hansi Flick was there to get a live impression of the form of his DFB professionals.
Havertz offered danger and suppleness, Antonio Rüdiger everything between beautiful diagonal balls and smaller dropouts.
Timo Werner was only allowed to play in the closing stages, and once again there was no room for the striker in Tuchel's starting line-up.
Finally polished:
Although Lille can call themselves French champions after last year's sensation, there is no longer too much masterly quality in the team.
A number of top performers have left the club, and successful coach Christophe Galtier also moved on in the summer.
Renato Sanches is one of the few remaining jewels: The former Bayern professional has matured from a diamond in the rough to a top performer in northern France, convincing with irrepressible energy, technical ability and good ideas.
However, Sanches was not able to sweep away the table eleventh in Ligue 1 alone.
The second half:
That didn't change even after the change of sides.
Although Lille had their share of the game, only Chelsea posed a threat: Be it Marcos Alonso with a shot deflected by Zeki Çelik (54th), Havertz from an acute angle (59th) or Christian Pulisic, who played a clean counterattack after Kanté passed Success completed (63rd).
It was the decision for the evening, and probably also the preliminary decision for the round of 16.
And for the statistics fans: Havertz had 46 ball contacts by the end of the game.
He mustn't:
Tuchel made four substitutions before the final whistle, two of them not entirely voluntarily because Ziyech and Mateo Kovačić were injured.
But bench presser Lukaku was left out.
It was only the second time this season that Inter Milan's €113m addition had been in the squad but not played.
In the group phase against Juventus, this was also due to the fact that Lukaku had an injury break of several weeks behind him.
Tuchel has to be careful that his star transfer doesn't finally become a personal problem - because against stronger opponents than Lille, Lukaku's power and his deep runs could be in demand again.