Chelsea and Lille have met in just one European campaign previously – the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League – when the English side won both group stage matches by the same 2-1 scoreline.
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Chelsea have only lost one of their previous ten home European matches against French sides (W6 D3), a 1-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in March 2016, which knocked the Blues out of the UEFA Champions League.
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Tuesday’s game will be Lille’s ninth UEFA Champions League match against English clubs and third versus Chelsea. Their other six games all came against Manchester United, with only one of their eight such matches ending in victory (D2 L5), a 1-0 win over the Red Devils in November 2005 thanks to a goal from Milenko Acimovic.
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Only Manchester City (15) and Bayern Munich (14) have won more UEFA Champions League matches than reigning champions Chelsea (13) since the start of last season, who – before last season – had been eliminated from the competition in five consecutive knockout ties between 2013/14 and 2019/20.
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Including finals, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has progressed/won 73% UEFA Champions League knockout ties (8/11). Only three other managers boast a higher such rate among those to have overseen at least ten knockout contests within the competition – Vicente del Bosque (80% – 8/10), Josef Heynckes (86% – 12/14) and Zinedine Zidane (88% – 14/16).
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Villarreal vs Juventus
Massimiliano Allegri’s side won their group despite being drawn with defending champions, Chelsea. Juventus have since strengthened in the January transfer window and have also picked up their form. Dusan Vlahovic and Denis Zakaria have fit in well at the Allianz Stadium and could make their continental bow for the Turin giants on Tuesday.
This will be the first time both sides will face off against each other in a competitive match. The last time the Bianconeri took on a Spanish side in the Round of 16 was in 2019 when they lost the first leg against Atletico Madrid only to mount an incredible second-half turnaround. That was also the last time the Italian giants progressed beyond the first knockout round.
Despite Villarreal being seen as a rather favourable draw, Juventus will do well to stay on their heels. The Yellow Submarine beat Manchester United last season to lift the Europa League trophy and ran Chelsea close in the UEFA Super Cup. They have also won seven of their last ten games in La Liga and are slowly proving to be difficult to beat.
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Villarreal vs Juventus team news
Tottenham loanee Giovani Lo Celso and Etienne Capoue are both injury doubts for the Spanish side and will be assessed late on.
Francis Coquelin, Gerard Moreno and Ruben Pena are all more certain to miss out for Villarreal, though Yeremy Pino is back from suspension.
Paulo Dybala is facing a race to prove his fitness for Juventus ahead of the first leg and should he miss out, Dusan Vlahovic could make his first European start for his new club.
Paulo Dybala is facing a race to prove his fitness for Juventus ahead of the first leg and should he miss out, Dusan Vlahovic could make his first European start for his new club.
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Villarreal have made it to the knockouts of the UEFA Champions League just twice before, getting knocked out by Arsenal on both occasions.
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Juventus have been eliminated at the Round of 16 stage in each of the last two seasons in the UEFA Champions League.
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Since the 2002/03 season, Juventus have gotten the better of Spanish sides in six of their eight two-legged ties in Europe.
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Unai Emery has not led a team beyond the last 16 of the Champions League. He has won just one match at this stage throughout his career.
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Chelsea XI: Mendy; Thiago Silva, Rüdiger, Christensen; Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Kanté, Marcos Alonso; Ziyech, Havertz, Pulisic
Lille XI: Jardim; Çelik, Fonte, Botman, Djalo; Renato Sanches, André, Xeka, Onana; Bamba, David.
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Villarreal XI: Rulli; Foyth, Albiol, Pau Torres, Pedraza; Chukwueze, Capoue, Parejo, Moreno; Lo Celso, Danjuma.
Juventus XI: Szczesny; De Sciglio, Danilo, De Ligt, Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Locatelli, Rabiot, McKennie; Vlahovic, Morata.
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Massimiliano Allegri has won just three of his eight last-16 ties away from home in the #UCL .
He lost 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in his last visit to Spain. 
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