LONDON — The duality at the heart of Christian Pulisic's career is that as he is learning not to feel the need to "save" the United States men's national team, Chelsea are looking for a talisman as Romelu Lukaku continues to falter. .
Pulisic revealed in an exclusive interview with ESPN earlier this month that he was trying to free himself from feeling he had to be a match-winner on international duty. At Stamford Bridge, he is considered one of several stars, all of whom were to work under Lukaku's shadow following a €115 million summer move from Inter Milan.
Yet Lukaku's disinterested form prompted Blues boss Thomas Tuchel to drop his key striker in Tuesday's Champions League last-16 against Ligue 1 side Lille as he turned to Pulisic, Kai Havertz, to lead Chelsea's attack. And had trusted Hakim Ziyech. Ziyech came to the fore when Lukaku went missing at Crystal Palace on Saturday, but here, Havertz and Pulisic gave the Blues a 2-0 win to give the defending champions a strong chance to advance to the quarter-finals.
Lukaku's lapse came when he recorded just seven touches against Palace, the lowest for 90 minutes by a Premier League player since the record began in 2003. Havertz needed just five to open the scoring eight minutes - and he already had two attempts on the goal by that stage.
The Germany international fired from inside the 6-yard box and later forced a fine defense from Lille's goalkeeper Leo Jardim. From the resulting Ziyech corner, Havertz led Chelsea.
Havertz took only 13 minutes and a second to register eight touches as Chelsea produced a far more aggressive harmony in the same 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 shape employed at Palace.
In Chelsea's half, Lillee swung the ball intelligently but never threatened Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, with Thiago Silva on defense and N'Golo Kante delivering another remarkable all-action midfield performance. The latter set up Pulisic for the second goal 27 minutes from time, bursting through the heart of the Lille defense before slipping a pass to the 23-year-old, who dug a slickly curved finish behind Jardim.
Pulisic also explained in that recent interview how he was struggling to find his rhythm due to a lack of play-time after a positive COVID-19 test, injury and struggles to break into the team. Tuesday was only the third time he started back-to-back matches this season, and the advantage was evident in one of his most impressive performances of the campaign so far.
It may also be no coincidence that although it was a slightly unusual role, acting as a slightly darker central attacking midfielder, it was the same question that was posed to him at Selhurst Park. That consistency is something he's clearly craving, having been used as a false nine and even a wing-back.
10 shirt from Eden Hazard (Willian kept it hot for a year), a player who almost single-handedly made Chelsea proud several times during his seven-year stay before departing for Real Madrid in 2019 . West London had high hopes, but the influx of big-money signings since Chelsea's FIFA transfer ban was lifted - both Havertz and Lukaku - cost Borussia Dortmund much more than the fee paid to secure Pulisic's signing. is more - now presents a chance to be a key member of an ensemble, which suits Pulisic more.
It was his sixth Champions League goal, his first at home, and an overall performance that would make it difficult to drop him for Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Liverpool (11:25 p.m. ET, live stream on ESPN+), when Tuchel indicated that Lukaku may return.
"The focus today was on intensity, high-pace play and also hard work with the ball for intense teamwork," Tuchel said. "Romelu struggled a bit to get it done in the last game.
"That's what I meant when I said [before the game] he was a little tired. Not just mentally exhausted but physically exhausted, which I can understand. It's like that. For three other players of us today Gone. Kai is in very good shape and gives a lot of high-intensity meters for the team. For Sunday, we have four days to recover and of course [Lukaku] has every chance to play Is.
"It wasn't a post-match moment where everyone was so focused on a few touches that he had to immediately fire the next one. It was a moment to take a step back, that was the decision and that's it.
"Now we have a strong win, a strong performance and almost every question is about Romelu so the focus is huge. There are nine other players who didn't play. We must never forget that we consider it a team sport. Huh."
The victory came at a cost. Matteo Kovacic covered six minutes in the second half before Ziyech was also ruled out with an injury. Both are suspects for Sunday, but that didn't affect things here as Pulisic and Havertz were leading from the front.
Shortly after scoring, Pulisic tracked Renato Sanches down with a lunge-busting run and produced a slide tackle to deflect him, exemplifying that work rate from the ball as described by Tuchel. "USA! USA! USA!" A mantra of In recognition of his efforts, Matthew Harding emerged from the stand.