US captain and Chelsea FC superstar Christian Pulisic defeated French champion Lille 2-1 in Round 2 on March 16 and won the “Man of the Match” honor 4-1. , Advance to the quarterfinals. UEFA Champions League.
Pulisic, nicknamed “Captain America,” also beat Lille 2-0 on February 22, scoring in the 16th round at Stamford Bridge, the first leg of the home.
As it was the first American match in the Champions League knockout round, American Timothy Weah came in 58 minutes to replace Lille to make history.
“It’s great to see all the guys and other Americans in this year’s Champions League,” Pulisic said. “I know it’s the place I’ve always wanted to play and it’s their dream, so I’m proud to see other Americans doing it. . “
Lille at Stade Pierre Maurois’ home had better control early in the match, scoring in the 38th minute with a penalty kick from a handball called by Chelsea Giorginho.
“They gave us a lot of problems in the first half,” Pulisic said. “I think they were really strong and generated a lot of energy. The stadium had a really nice atmosphere.”
Chelsea will dominate the match with a 56% ball dominance. Both teams shot eight shots, but Chelsea scored half a goal and Lille had only one shot.
Lille locked out the last three opponents of French League 1, but Pulisic couldn’t stop Chelsea as he drew the match in the 48th minute of the first half with a total of 3 to 1 additional time.
Giorginho supplemented his previous handball and “provided a great pass. That’s his job,” Pulisic added. “So I had to finish it.” Place a low drive in the lower left corner past Lille goalkeeper Leo Jardim.
Lille couldn’t take advantage of a rare chance in the second half, but Chelsea scored another goal with a Mason Mount cross from the right side in the 71st minute, allowing Cesar Azpilicueta to redirect to the upper corner of the goal. His knees.
“Clearly a lot was happening and it was a difficult match,” Pulisic said. “So come here and get results today. We must be really happy about it.”
Pulisic mentioned the club’s situation of being put up for sale by its owner Roman Abramovich because it was forced to operate under a special license imposed by the British government, limiting spending and operations.
“Everyone is calm in the club. The culture of the club is about football. In Chelsea, football is a priority, so we focus on what happens on the pitch,” said Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel. I told the French TV channel RMC Sport.
Sanctions from the EU
A week after Britain, the European Union on March 15 also imposed sanctions on Abramovich, the owner of the Chelsea Football Club.
The European Council has issued a travel ban, freezing his property and the property of other Russian oligarchs, a total of 15 people, 9 organizations. All of these are closely related to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The EU said Abramovich’s business profits have brought significant income to the Russian government and are economically profitable from its relationship with Putin.
EU sanctions allegedly revealed that Abramovich bought oil company Sibneft from the Russian government at an auction in 1995 for $ 250 million and sold it back to the Russian government for $ 13 billion 10 years later. It follows the BBC’s investigation. His lawyer states that there was no criminal activity in his business interests.
Therefore, the European Council has pushed the story of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine by imposing a fourth package of sanctions on major oligarchs, lobbyists, and advertisers.
The council said Abramovich is “a major shareholder of the steel group Evraz, one of Russia’s largest taxpayers.” Therefore, he has benefited from Russian decision makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine. “
Unlike the UK government, EU officials have added that blocks in 27 countries will not impose sanctions on Chelsea FC.
(Ian Kinton / Getty Images)
British sanctions
On March 10th, Abramovich was suspended as director of the Chelsea Football Club. His property was frozen and a travel ban was enforced by the British government. Six other Russian “oligarchy”, including Igor Setin, Oleg Deripaska, Dmitri Lebedev, Alexey Miller, Andrey Kostin and Nikolai Tokarev, have also been sanctioned.
The English Premier League has issued a statement. “Following sanctions by the UK Government, the Premier League Board has disqualified Roman Abramovich as Director of the Chelsea Football Club. The Board’s decision is a condition of a government-issued license that expires on May 31, 2022. Does not affect the ability of the club’s equipment to train and play, as defined by. “
Abramovich is the primary owner of Millhouse LLC’s private investment company, which owns the Chelsea Football Club. They are currently limited to spending $ 26,000 on trips to away matches and about $ 1.17 million on hosting home games.
Chelsea FC was “for sale” with an asking price of £ 3 billion ($ 3.9 billion). Abramovich initially paid the club $ 2 billion more than 19 years ago, but he cannot benefit from the sale.
Some UK lawyers believe that Abramovich will not receive anything from the sale because all of Abramovich’s assets have been frozen by both the UK and the EU.
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