Abraham and Azpilicueta fire Chelsea into Champions League Round of 16

Photo credit: Chelsea 

At Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, with the Blues needing a positive result to reach the Champions League Round of 16, the striker came up huge for Frank Lampard in a 2-1 win over Lille. 

With the pressure on Chelsea, Abraham indeed got the English side on the scoreboard first, finding the back of the net in the 19th minute. Abraham’s tap in was set up by a blazing assist from Willian. 

Chelsea wasn’t done there in the first half, however. In the 35th minute, Cesar Azpilicueta showed his class with a perfect header off a corner kick. Azpilicueta was somehow left unmarked and made the Lille defense pay for its costly error. 

Things were made interesting in the second half, as Lille scored in the 78th minute to cut its deficit to 2-1. With Chelsea needing a win to advance in the CL, fans grew a bit nervous. However, those nerves became instant relief after the final whistle.

With the victory, Chelsea finished as the runner-ups in the Group H standings behind Valencia with its 11 points, one point ahead of Ajax (10), which was eliminated from the tournament. 

Next up for Chelsea is an English Premier League tilt with Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon. That game will also be played in front of the hometown fans at Stamford Bridge.