Chelsea could rely on Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz for goals with misfiring Romelu Lukaku rested.
The London club resumed its Champions League title defence by cruising to a 2-0 victory over Lille this morning (AEDT) to take control of the round of 16 matchup.
Havertz took only eight minutes to head Chelsea in front by meeting Hakim Ziyech’s corner.
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Pulisic latched onto N’Golo Kante’s pass with a clipped effort in the 63rd minute to ensure Chelsea has a two goal cushion to take into the second leg next month in France.
The ease of Chelsea’s victory reflected their status this season.
While Chelsea is third in the Premier League, Lille is mid-table in its French title defence.
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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said fatigue was the reason for leaving out Lukaku, the club record A$187 million offseason signing who touched the ball only seven times in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Lukaku didn’t come off the bench against Lille.
“He looked a little exhausted and you have to consider that he’s played a lot,” Tuchel said.
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Meanwhile, Dusan Vlahovic needed just 31 seconds to show Europe why Juventus chose him to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Serbia striker had a dream debut in the Champions League, scoring a superb goal after his first contact with the ball in a 1-1 draw at Villarreal.
His goal had the elements of strikes that only players of Ronaldo’s calibre can pull off, combining power, a sense of the moment and that extra dose of confidence that means no scoring chance, however slim, should go to waste.
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After using his chest to control a long pass from Danilo, the 22-year-old striker did not hesitate to immediately take on centre back pair Pau Torres and Raul Albiol.
He used one touch to prepare his shot taken with his weaker right foot while he spun toward the goal.
The low effort grazed the foot of a defender before squirting in at an angle past goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
It was his second goal with Juventus since the team secured his A$110 million transfer from Fiorentina near the end of the January transfer window to find a top scorer after Ronaldo’s exit five months before in the offseason.
“It was huge to score on my debut. It was very emotional,” Vlahovic said.
“However, I cannot be 100 per cent satisfied because we have not won the game.”
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Dani Parejo leveled for Villarreal in the 66th minute, leaving the playoff poised for the decider in Italy with the away goal rule scrapped this season.
“When they score in the first minute, it ruins your game plan. But even so, we knew how to hang in there and go for the match,” Parejo said.
“To draw 1-1 after starting from behind, I am satisfied with how we played and the chances we created against a giant like Juventus.”
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Juventus is trying to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018-19 after losing in the round of 16 in the past two seasons.
Unai Emery has Villarreal, last season’s Europa League champion, back in the knockout rounds of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in 13 years.
The Spanish team will hope to have striker Gerard Moreno, now injured, back for the second leg in Turin on March 16.
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