Chelsea 2-1 Lille: Frank Lampard's side hold on to reach Champions League knockout stages
Tammy Abraham tapped home a fine team goal as Chelsea saw off Lille 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to reach the Champions League's last 16.
England hitman Abraham notched his 13th Chelsea goal in all competitions this term, with Cesar Azpilicueta heading in from Emerson's corner.
Former Blues striker Loic Remy blasted in an impressive late strike but Chelsea rebuffed the Lille comeback to seal their place in the knockout stages.
Abraham applied the finishing touch to a crisp five-man move to light up a dank west London night, as Chelsea responded admirably to Frank Lampard's pre-match challenge.
Frustrated boss Lampard had called on his faltering young stars to show tougher "personality" in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 Premier League loss at Everton.
Chelsea entered Tuesday's Lille clash with just one win in five matches, with Lampard facing the first tangible test of his Stamford Bridge managerial reign.
The Blues' former England midfielder had pulled no punches in demanding more character from his developing squad.
And in free-scoring striker Abraham Lampard has just the type of personality player around whom he can build the Blues' future.
Abraham himself appears quite happy to shoulder the burden of leading Chelsea's charge under Lampard, openly embracing the number nine shirt at the age of 22.
Lampard will hope bigger and better European nights await his youthful charges, but considering Chelsea lost their opening Group H clash at home to Valencia he will be delighted just to make the knockout phase this term at all.
Chelsea eased into rhythm from the off, Christian Pulisic, Emerson and N'Golo Kante all going close before the hosts broke the deadlock.
⚽️ Tammy Abraham grabbed the first goal for Chelsea, who are currently 2-0 up in the Champions League!
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) December 10, 2019
🔵 The Blues are well on their way to victory over Lille#UCL | #CHELOSC pic.twitter.com/oQJzDBz5KT
The move of the match yielded the opener, as Chelsea turned a set move into an eye-catching team goal.
Lille defender Jeremy Pied insisted the visitors were not in London for a glorified training session, having been unable to qualify for the next phase of either the Champions or Europe League.
So instead it was Chelsea who turned Stamford Bridge into the training paddock, with Abraham tapping home to cap an inch-perfect move.
Mateo Kovacic dropped into the left back slot to angle a lofted ball to Kante, who had tiptoed up to the centre forward berth.
The Frenchman chested down straight into the path of the onrushing Pulisic, who drove infield from the left and fed Willian cutting in from the right.
The Brazil forward checked down the line, cut back a low ball to the near post - and Abraham did the rest with a smart finish.
The five-man move smacked of a plan often rehearsed in preparation but rarely executed so crisply in battle.
When captain Azpilicueta headed in Emerson's corner just past the half hour, Chelsea were in total control and already eyeing the knockout stages.
The Blues bossed the second-half's opening exchanges with no joy, and were left with a nervy end to the night when Remy lashed home late on.
The former Blues striker thumped home a fine finish to put Chelsea's progression in jeopardy, and then even fluffed a great chance to dump the hosts out of the competition.
Chelsea held out though, for a morale-boosting and ultimately deserved win.
Tuesday's Champions League scores
- Napoli 4-0 Genk
- Salzburg 0-2 Liverpool
Liverpool and Napoli progress
- Ajax 0-1 Valencia
- Chelsea 2-1 Lille
Valencia and Chelsea progress
- Benfica 3-0 Zenit
- Lyon 2-2 RB Leipzig
Leipzig and Lyon progress
- Dortmund 2-1 Slavia Prague
- Inter 1-2 Barcelona
Barcelona and Dortmund progress
Opta facts
- Chelsea have now progressed to the knockout stages in 15 of their 16 Champions League participations, failing only in 2012-13.
- Lille earned just one point in the group stages this season, drawing once and losing five times – it’s their worst ever return in a Champions League group stage.
- Frank Lampard is the first English manager to progress a team from a Champions League group stage (having taken charge of all six group games) since Harry Redknapp with Spurs in 2010-11.
- Lille have played six away games against English sides in major European competition and failed to win them all, scoring just once in those matches (D1 L5).
- Loïc Rémy became the seventh player to score for and against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, after Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres, Diego Costa, Michael Ballack, David Luiz and Willian.
- Tammy Abraham has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season for Chelsea, more than twice as many as the nearest teammate (Christian Pulisic, 6).
- César Azpilicueta has scored two goals in his last three Champions League games, more than he had in his first 46 appearances in the competition (1).
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