Long clumsy in front of goal, Chelsea managed to overthrow Dortmund (0-1, 2-0) on Tuesday in the knockout stages of the Champions League, a victory that could do a lot of good for the Blues and their coach, Graham Potter. The Blues join Benfica in the quarter-finals. For Dortmund, who had won their 10 matches since the return to the World Cup, the return to earth may seem severe, but over the two matches as a whole, there is no crying foul.
In the first leg, the Londoners had created several good chances, including a strike on the bar from Joao Felix, and this lack of success still punctuated most of the first period. After a kickoff postponed by ten minutes, due to Borussia’s difficulties in accessing the stadium, the Germans quickly understood that the evening would be complicated. Not only did their opponents attack the match with their feet on the floor, but they lost, from the 5th minute of play, one of their major offensive assets with the injury to a thigh of Julian Brand.
Potter’s awakening
But that doesn’t take away from Chelsea, who did whatever it took to win ahead of a Potter sometimes criticized for being too placid and who, this time, waved his arms to give directions or encourage the public to be louder.
From the 6th minute, Joao Felix forced Alexander Meyer, who replaced Gregor Kobel in the cages, to an exit in his feet, before Emre Can, with a stroller in the back, unbalanced Kai Havertz at the time of his shot, which n found only the small outside net (8th). The German, symbol of his team’s attacking problems, again found the post in the 28th minute and when he put the ball into the opposing skylight, ten minutes later, he saw his goal canceled for an off- Raheem Sterling’s game at the start.
A decisive penalty with twists and turns
Pressed on his goal, Dortmund was very happy to see Kalidou Koulibaly miss his recovery five meters from the line, before Meyer intervened again in front of Felix (40th). But the Blues ended up breaking through the opposing lock when luck finally smiled on them with two favorable counterattacks in the penalty area for Sterling who then catapulted the ball into the back of the net from the outside (1-0, 43rd).
On returning from the locker room, Chelsea went on the attack again and obtained a penalty in the first seconds for an opposing hand, after viewing the images by the referee on the edge of the field. Havertz first sent him to the post on his right but VAR gave him away because several players, including Germans, had entered the box.
With notable strength of character, Havertz withdrew the penalty almost exactly in the same place but this time inside (2-0, 53rd). Dortmund may regret the two fine saves from Kepa on a free kick from Marco Reus 20 meters away (17th) and a strike from Marius Wolf (65th), or the too uncrossed recovery from Jude Bellingham (58th). But with the same number of shots (13) and shots on target (4), for once, realism was on the side of Chelsea for whom the Champions League is now a major objective, with its 10th place in the league.