Brave Chelsea have one foot in Champions League quarter-finals after taking down Lille

Chelsea went into Tuesday's UEFA Champions League game against Lille on the back of an unconvincing win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The Blues may have beaten Patrick Vieira's side, but they struggled for larger parts and only got their breakthrough late in the game.

Much of their rustiness can be attributed to their overblown celebrations after winning the FIFA Club World Cup a week earlier. But Chelsea needed to be at their best when they returned to defend their Champions League title.

Facing a well-motivated Lille side in the Round of 16 first leg at Stamford Bridge, the Blues got into their element, coasting to a comfortable 2-0 victory.

Blues take down Lille

One thing about Thomas Tuchel's side is that, irrespective of their form, they know how to turn up when it matters most.

And they did exactly that against Lille. The Blues completely dominated the opening minutes, giving their opponents no chance to settle.

It took just eight minutes for Chelsea to take the lead, with Kai Havertz displacing his marker to plant a firm header into the back of the net.

The Blues continued to dominate and scored their cushioning goal in the 63rd minute when N'Golo Kante set up Christian Pulisic to curl the ball past the goalkeeper. It was an efficient performance from Tuchel's side and they deserved to win.

Chelsea have one foot in quarter-finals

The away goals rule has been abolished but taking a two-goal lead into the second leg is a huge advantage for Chelsea.

The Blues are already a better side than Lille and they now have one foot in the quarter-finals after recording a very good victory at home.

"We had very strong for periods, for example for the first 10 minutes, but we also have in the same game these periods where it's totally gone from one second to another. Easy ball losses and a lack of fluidity and bad decisions, and then we recover from it and we have strong phases again," Tuchel told Chelseafc.com afterwards.

"This is a bit the story at the moment, but there are very good things in it. If we can maybe keep it up on that level and then make the good minutes longer and a bit more consistent, this is maybe the next step.

"It was a very well-prepared opponent today. They were very aggressive, they were very physical so it was necessary to step up and be mentally tough and defensively super solid, and this is what we did. We did not allow them chances and it gave us a good feeling throughout the whole match."

Technically, the tie isn't over yet but Chelsea are odds-on favorites to progress. It'll take a drastic collapse from the West London club for Lille to overturn the 2-0 defeat from the first leg.