22 February,2022 07:40 AM IST | Lille (France) | AFP
Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech (right) celebrates with Christian Pulisic after scoring against Crystal Palace in an EPL tie on Saturday. Pic/AFP
A Lille side sitting in mid-table in Ligue 1 head to London to face Chelsea this week hoping to play the role of "party poopers" against the reigning European champions, their coach Jocelyn Gourvennec said.
Recent Club World Cup winners Chelsea are heavy favourites to beat Lille in their Champions League last-16 tie as Thomas Tuchel's side look to retain the title they won by beating Manchester City in last season's final. But Lille, who exceeded expectations by reaching this stage for the first time since 2006-07 and make the short trip across the English Channel for the first leg, aim to keep the tie alive for the return. "We are competitors so we will not be going there just to be Chelsea's sparring partners. They are a great team, but there are always surprises in cup matches and we want to be the party poopers, as we have been since the beginning of this Champions League campaign," Gourvennec said. The side from France's far north caused a major upset by winning the French title last season ahead of star-studded Paris Saint-Germain.
Chelsea boss Tuchel sounded wary of Lille. "It's important to be realistic and not over-expect from us, and accept games against midtable teams can become difficult," he said.
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Meanwhile, Alvaro Morata said on Monday he stayed at Juventus in January after coach Max Allegri insisted the arrival of Dusan Vlahovic would help him. Allegri suggested in a press conference that Morata will start up front alongside Vlahovic on Tuesday, when Juve play away at Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League Last 16.
Morata was reportedly close to joining Barcelona in January after Juventus signed Vlahovic for 80 million euros from Fiorentina. "I'm happy to be here. If it depended on me, I would always stay here," said Morata about Barca's interest.
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