TheCable

Chelsea scored in both halves to defeat LOSC Lille of France 2-0 in their UEFA Champions League (UCL) round of 16 first leg tie at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

Goals from Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic led the Blues to a comfortable victory on a night when Matteo Kovacic and Hakim Ziyech suffered injuries.

Havertz, starting ahead of Romelu Lukaku, converted his third chance of the night to give Chelsea an early lead, tucking away Ziyech’s cross with a header on eight minutes.

Thomas Tuchel’s men waited until after the hour mark to double their advantage, with Pulisic finishing off a counter-attack, as the American winger’s shot found the back of the net to put Chelsea in firm control going into the second leg in three weeks.

In the other match of the night, Samuel Chukwueze, Super Eagles of Nigeria winger, featured for 89 minutes in Villarreal’s 1-1 draw with Juventus.

The Turin giants took the lead only 32 seconds into the match through Dusan Vlahovic. Dani Parejo, however, equalized for Villarreal on 66 minutes.

RESULTS

• Chelsea 2-0 LOSC Lille
• Villarreal 1-1 Juventus