Lille vs Chelsea head to head

Chelsea and Lille have never met before in European competition. They will be the 52nd team we have played in the Champions League.

Our two previous meetings were both friendlies in 1950. Lille won the first on their own ground 3-1 in May and the Blues won 3-0 six months later in front of just under 10,000 at the Bridge.

Chelsea’s biggest away win in the Champions League:

20/10/1999 - Galatasaray 0-5 Chelsea - first group stage25/11/2014 - Schalke 0-5 Chelsea - group stage

Lille’s biggest home win in the Europe:

16/12/2010 - Lille 3-0 Gent - Europa League group stage

Chelsea's European record

This is our 28th season in European competition and 16th in the Champions League.

Lille will be the fifth different French opponent Chelsea have faced in European competition, all in the Champions League (five wins, five draws, six defeats). The other four were Marseille, Monaco, PSG and Bordeaux.

Chelsea have won seven of our past 12 away group games in the Champions League, losing three, keeping a clean sheet on seven occasions.

The Blues have lost our last two Champions League matches – we have never lost three in a row in the competition.

Chelsea’s 0-1 loss to Valencia was our first reverse in European competition in 17 matches (12 wins, four draws). Our previous defeat was at Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 second leg in March 2018 (0-3), although we did lose on penalties against Liverpool in the Super Cup in August after a 2-2 draw after extra-time in Istanbul.

The Blues have won once in our last seven games in the Champions League, beating Qarabag in November 2017 under Antonio Conte.

Chelsea have won one (and lost five) of our previous eight away games against French sides in the Champions League, beating PSG 3-0 in September 2004.

The Blues have scored three goals or more in five of our past nine European matches. Our 36 goals in last season's Europa League was one short of the competition record set by Porto in 2010/11.

Avoiding defeat at Lille will take our unbeaten away run in Europe to eight games which will be a new club record, beating the previous seven set between November 2008 and November 2009.

Our three away Champions League group games at Lille, Amsterdam and Valencia total 2,410 miles return, which is less than half of our round trip to Baku for last season’s Europa League final (4,932 miles).

Opened in 2012, Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy with its 50,000 capacity will be the 213th different ground we will play at in competitive action. It was used in 2016 Euros.

Loic Remy currently plays for Lille and old boys Eden Hazard, Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou have all played at the club before or after their Chelsea careers.

Chelsea milestones

If selected, Willian will make his 300th appearance for the club. He will become the eighth overseas player to reach that milestone following Petr Cech 494, Didier Drogba 381, Branislav Ivanovic 377, John Mikel Obi 372, Eden Hazard 352, Cesar Azpilicueta 346 and Gianfranco Zola 312.

Lille statistics

Last seasonLigue 1 - secondCoupe de France - round of 16Coupe de la Ligue - third roundTop scorer all competitions: Nicolas Pepe 23Average home league attendance: 34,084

This is Lille’s sixth appearance in the Champions League group stage and their first since 2012/13. Only one of those previous five campaigns has extended into the knockout rounds, in 2006/07. Seven years ago they finished bottom of a section including Bayern Munich, Valencia and BATE Borisov.

Lille’s six Champions League matches against English opposition all came against Manchester United, with the French side winning once, drawing twice and losing three. In all competitions, Lille have failed to score in five of their last six matches against English teams.

Les Dogues are winless in eight Champions League home matches (three draws, five defeats), since beating AEK Athens in October 2006.

Lille’s starting XI against Ajax had an average age of 23 years and 277 days – their youngest average for a Champions League match and youngest of any side on matchday one.

The French side have conceded 16 goals in their past seven Champions League games (2.3 per game).

Lille’s most recent European appearance came in 2016/17 and lasted only one tie, Gabala of Azerbaijan running out 2-1 aggregate winners in the Europa League third qualifying round.

This is Les Dogues first home game against an English club since a goalless draw with Everton in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage; a 3-0 defeat in the return made it one win in their past six matches with Premier League sides, home and away.

Lille have picked up 14 points from their first eight Ligue 1 fixtures and currently stand fourth, four points behind leaders PSG. They have won all four home matches in 2019/20, scoring nine goals and conceding two.

Having scored six of Lille’s first 11 goals this season, new signing Victor Osimhen is Ligue 1's joint top scorer after eight games alongside Lyon's Moussa Dembele and Habib Diallo (Metz).

Head coach Christophe Galtier has never managed a side against Chelsea.

Major transfers

In: Timothy Weah (PSG), Victor Osimhen (Charleroi), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich).

Out: Thiago Mendes (Lyon), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal).

Lille's matchday one line-up

Tuesday 17 SeptemberAjax 3 Lille 0Team 4-2-3-1: Maignan; Zekicelik, Fonte (c), Gabriel, Bradaric; Andre, Soumare (Xeka 77); Sanches (Araujo 63), Ikone (Yazici 63), Bamba; Osimhen.Attendance: 51,441

Discipline

There are no suspensions

In the Champions League, three yellow cards will result in a one match suspension in the competition.

Booking listLille: Sanches 1Chelsea: Giroud 1, Jorginho 1

Lille vs Chelsea referee and VAR

Referee Aleksei Kulbakov and his assistants are from Belarus. VAR Artur Dias and his assistant are from Portugal.

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