PARIS: Chelsea could rely on Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz for goals with misfiring Romelu Lukaku rested.

The London club resumed their Champions League title defence by cruising to a 2-0 victory over Lille on Tuesday to take control of the round of 16 match-up heading into next month’s second leg.

Relishing an attacking role, Germany forward Havertz, who had already had two attempts on goal early in the game, headed down a Hakim Ziyech corner in the eighth minute and the ball bounced high off the turf into the net.

“We have a lot of good strikers, so it is also good to have a change and not make it easy for the opposition,” Havertz said. “Today it worked good and I enjoy every forward position.

American Pulisic hit the second in the 63rd minute with a curling finish after N’Golo Kante’s surging run and pinpoint pass.

The ease of Chelsea’s victory reflected their status this season. While Thomas Tuchel’s side are third in the Premier League, Lille are mid-table in their Ligue 1 title defence.

“We lacked a little quality in the final ball and that cost us,” Lille forward Jonathan David said.

In the night’s other first leg, Dusan Vlahovic scored 31 seconds into his Champions League debut as Juventus drew 1-1 at Villarreal, who levelled through Dani Parejo in the second half.

Vlahovic found the corner with just his second touch of the game at La Ceramica but a sensational start for Juve and the Serb’s Champions League career was not enough for victory.

Instead, Parejo steered in a deserved equaliser midway through the second half to leave a compelling contest in the balance ahead the return leg in Turin on March 16.

Juve will be favourites to finish the job next month but a well-organised and disciplined Villarreal, who won the Europa League last season, showed enough to suggest an upset is far from impossible.

“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.”

LUKAKU DROPPED

In London, Chelsea’s sixth successive win in all competitions was more a referendum on their Lukaku conundrum than an indication of their chances of retaining the trophy.

Lukaku has scored just 10 goals since a club record 97 million ($131 million) move from Inter Milan last year that was expected to launch a period of sustained dominance for Chelsea.

He touched the ball only seven times in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, the lowest total by a Premier League player since 2003-04.

Despite being infuriated in December by Lukaku’s public questioning of the way he was being used, Tuchel had appeared to back him on Monday, insisting his problems were no laughing matter.

But, tellingly, Chelsea were more potent in Lukaku’s absence and it remains to be seen if Tuchel will trust his beleaguered star in the League Cup final against Liverpool on Sunday.

At least Tuchel knows Chelsea have the ammunition to damage opponents while their supposed leading man labours.

“For Kai, I’m very pleased. He’s been very strong for several weeks now. He really stepped up. The work rate is immense. The areas of the pitch he covers for us is very good. He is never shy of defending,” Tuchel said.

“Romelu struggled in the last game to deliver. Not only mentally tired, but physically, which I can understand. After the match where everyone was focused on his few touches ... it was not the moment to put him into the next fire. It was the moment to take a step back. Today we went with other players. For Sunday we have four days to recover and decide who plays.”

EARLY VLAHOVIC STRIKE

Vlahovic needed just 31 seconds to show Europe why Juventus chose him to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.

His goal had the elements of strikes that only players of Ronaldo’s caliber 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.

After using his chest to control a long pass from Danilo, the 22-year-old striker did not hesitate to immediately take on center-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 Gernimo Rulli.

It was his second goal with Juventus since the team secured his 70 million euro ($80 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% satisfied because we have not won the game.”

Juve dominated the game until a mistake by their defence in the 66th minute gave Parejo the chance to score the equaliser.

Etienne Capoue spotted Parejo alone and unmarked behind defenders and sent a perfect pass over the top for the Spanish midfielder to tap into the net.

Vlahovic almost conjured up the winner with five minutes remaining with a powerful shot that Rulli did well to stop.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022