Christian Pulisic on his all-important goal vs Lille as Chelsea qualify for quarter-finals
Christian Pulisic has provided his thoughts on the all-important goal that he scored against Lille, which enabled Chelsea to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. He scored the opener for us just seconds before the half-time whistle, helping them gain control over the tie.
The Ligue 1 champions started the game really well and used the atmosphere of their home stadium to gain the advantage. They were the better side overall in the first half and took the lead after Burak Yilmaz scored his penalty for a handball. Despite their pressure, Pulisic broke their hearts levelling the score just before the break. That splashed water over all the work that the hosts had done in the second leg of the round of 16.
Speaking in the post-match interview (h/t Chelsea official website), Pulisic has expressed that his goal really helped them to calm things down during the half-time break, which in turn assisted them to regain their composure in the second half. He added that it would have been really challenging without that goal due to how the hosts put pressure on them before that decisive moment.
Clinical and timely!
“In the first half, they were strong and there was a good atmosphere in the stadium. They put a lot of pressure on us right away. They gave us a lot of trouble and then with the handball penalty they were back in the game. We made a few changes and were able to calm the game down a bit with some possession but the goal we scored before half-time was really important because it restored confidence.”
“It was a really good goal we got right before half-time to calm us down a bit and in the end we should be proud. Going into half-time 1-0 down would have been tough so it was definitely helpful.”
The US international once again featured on the scoreline for us, which was the case in the first leg of this tie as well. He thoroughly deserved the Man of the Match award for the solid performance yesterday, and his recent form would certainly be helpful moving forward.
That has seen his tally rise to six goals alongside four assists this season from 27 appearances across all competitions. While he still has not reached the form from his days at Borussia Dortmund, the recent displays would undoubtedly be a welcome sign as we near the crucial stages of this campaign.
Our attackers were the weak point in the initial stages of this term, but that seems to have changed recently. The likes of Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz have improved over the past few weeks as well, which could not come at a perfect time for us.
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Ziyech, Havertz and Pulisic’s performances would be a boost for us in our pursuit to retain the CL title this season. We are hopeful that others like Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner will follow suit as soon as possible. Whether that would happen or not remains to be seen.