Lille aim to be ‘party poopers’ against European champions Chelsea

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 1, 2021 Lille’s French head coach Jocelyn Gourvennec reacts during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and Lille LOSC at The Roazhon Park Stadium in Rennes, western France. – Gourvennec gives an interview with AFP ahead of the UEFA Champions League football match between Lille and Chelsea. (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / 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 told AFP.

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.

Lille already exceeded expectations just by reaching the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since 2006/07 and, as they make the short trip to the other side of the English Channel for the first leg, their aim is 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, that’s for sure,” Gourvennec said.

“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.”

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 and they then topped their Champions League section above Austrian champions Salzburg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg.

However, they find themselves in 11th place in the French top-flight two-thirds of the way through this