Chelsea booked a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after a 2-1 second-leg win against LOSC Lille on Wednesday night.
The defending champions held a 2-0 advantage from the first leg played at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago, but had to work extra against the French champions.
Just like it was in London, the hosts started the match brightly, pressing the Blues and forcing them to guard their box in the opening minutes.
Despite both sides enjoying periodic possession, there were no clear chances in the opening half-hour, with the Blues happy to keep the hosts at arm’s length.
It quickly changed though as Lille got a penalty in the 36th minute when Jorginho handled the ball inside the box.
Burak Yilmaz stepped up and put the ball into the top right corner past the outstretched arm of Edouard Mendy to give the hosts the lead.
It however lasted a few minutes as Chelsea worked their way back into the match and Christian Puulisic pulled them level with a clever finish on the stroke of half-time.
The French club came back for the second half with real intent and carved out a number of chances.
The best fell to Xeka in the 63rd minute when he latched onto a superb cross into the box but his effort hit the left post.
It didn’t take long for Lille to pay for the missed chance as Cezar Azpilicueta finished a good team move to put them in the driving seat.
Despite their best efforts, Lille could not find a way past the London club as they booked a place in the last eight with a 4-1 aggregate win.
In another match, Villarreal knocked out Italian giants Juventus with a hard-fought 3-0 win.
The tie was evenly balanced at 1-1 from the first leg played in Spain two weeks ago, with the Italian club having the advantage of playing the second leg at home.
It was not to be though as Gerrard Moreno gave Villarreal the lead in the 78th minute, before Pau Torres scored what seemed like the winner five minutes later.
There was time though for Arnaut Danjuma to score a third deep in injury time to add icing on the cake for the Spanish club.
