The British title holder clearly prevailed once morest Lille. The Spaniards, who are considered Italy specialists, surprisingly eliminated Juventus Turin away.
Chelsea and Villarreal completed the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday. The defending champions from London scored a 2-1 away win once morest Lille following 2-0 in the round of 16 first leg, the Spaniards sat down Juventus Turin surprisingly clear with 3:0. The first leg ended 1-1.
In addition, the FC Bayern (Marcel Sabitzer), Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid (David Alaba), Benfica (Valentino Lazaro) and Atletico Madrid in the last eight. The draw for the quarter- and semi-finals will take place on Friday in Nyon.
Lille was not a hurdle
After the many turbulences of the past few days, there was positive news for Chelsea. Because of the sanctions once morest club owner Roman Abramowitsch, the “Blues” are not allowed to make any transfers, sell any tickets and have had to close all fan shops. The British government had imposed the strict measures once morest the owner because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. As a result, Chelsea were only able to take fewer staff with them to Lille than usual.
Nevertheless, the hurdle Lille was taken relatively easily. In a game with few highlights, Jorginho caught the ball in his own penalty area and Burak Yilmaz safely converted the penalty imposed following VAR intervention (38′). Seconds before the break, Chelsea equalized – Christian Pulisic sank an ideal pass from Jorginho in the far corner (45 + 3).
Things might have gotten even more exciting following the break if Xeka’s header had landed in the goal and not on the post (63′). As it was, however, Cesar Azpilicueta put his knee to 2-1 for Chelsea (71′) following Mason Mount’s preparatory work, and the knockout duel was decided. Red Bull Salzburg’s group opponents might not improve following that.
Juventus fail at Goalie Rulli
In Turin, the first half was clearly dominated by the hosts. Alvaro Morata (11′) and Dusan Vlahovic (21′, 36′) all missed out on Villarreal goalie Geronimo Rulli, and Vlahovic was unlucky to hit the crossbar in the 21st minute. After the change of sides, the guests came up and struck for the first time in the 78th minute. Francis Coquelin was put down by Daniele Rugani in the penalty area, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a penalty following viewing video footage and Gerard Moreno, with a bit of luck, scored.
When Juventus mobilized their last strength, Villarreal made the decision – Pau Torres scored from a corner (85th). It got even worse for the Italians when Arnaut Danjuma netted a penalty following a handball by Matthijs de Ligt to make it 3-0 for the guests – the heaviest home defeat by Juventus in Champions League history was perfect.
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This confirmed Villarreal’s reputation as an Italy specialist. In the past 20 years, the ‘yellow submarine’ have progressed seven times in eight knockouts with Serie A clubs. Juventus, on the other hand, traditionally have high ambitions, lost for the third time in a row once morest a semi-prominent club in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Before that, Olympique Lyon and FC Porto were too strong.
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