Chelsea through to UCL quarters

An impressive performance saw Chelsea come from behind to knock Borussia Dortmund out of the UEFA Champions League and The Blues progressed into the quarter-finals.

CHELSEA XI: Arrizabalaga; Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; James, Kovacic*, Fernandez, Chilwell; Sterling, Felix; Havertz

CHELSEA SUBS: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Chalobah, Hall, Loftus-Cheek, Zakaria, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mudryk

DORTMUND XI: Meyer; Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Can, Ozcan; Brandt, Bellingham, Reus*; Haller

DORTMUND SUBS: Kobel, Unbehaun, Hummels, Rothe, Coulibaly, Meunier, Dahoud, Passlack, Reyna, Bynoe-Gittens, Malen, Modeste

Action: In a lively atmosphere, mainly provoked by the visiting fans but contributed to significantly by the hosts, too, the first-half was the definition of a match that had ebb and flow.

Initially the game took a few minutes to get started with Julian Brandt having to go off injured inside the first five minutes due to an injury to his thigh.

Chelsea then managed to get going with what was a fast start. First of all, Kalidou Koulibaly had a badly controlled header glance wide before Joao Felix got in down the left side of the Dortmund defence but he couldn’t squeeze the ball past Alexander Meyer. Kai Havertz then went close a couple of minutes later with the German international firing into the side netting. 

After Dortmund weathered the early Blues storm, they very nearly took the lead on the night themselves with a free-kick from Marco Reus which was well saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Dortmund continued to play some reasonable and front foot football with Jude Bellingham and Salih Ozcan combining well with Gio Reyna but nothing of note was created.

Then, in the final 20 minutes of the half, it was one-way traffic with the home team dominating and showing some excellent patterns of play reminiscent of Graham Potter’s spell at Brighton.

First of all, Reece James crossed at the end of a sweeping move and Nico Schlotterbeck’s clearance only went as far as Kai Havertz on the edge of the box. Havertz’s scuffed shot hit the inside of the Dortmund post before flying across goal and going out for a goal kick. 

Chelsea then thought they had taken the lead but their supposed opener was disallowed. Joao Felix lofted the ball over the top and Raheem Sterling had a shot saved by Meyer before the rebound fell to Havertz. Havertz curled an excellent effort in off the woodwork but Sterling had strayed too early prior to Havertz’s strike.

Moments after that, Chelsea went close again. This time, a cross from the left-hand side went all the way through to Kalidou Koulibaly. Koulibaly’s effort was miscued and he managed to miss out on a gaping goal with the ball coming off the back of his foot. Joao Felix followed up on the rebound but he could only hit a charging defender.

Raheem Sterling levels the tie for Chelsea!! 🤩

A goal had been coming... a huge second half awaits these two! 👀#UCL pic.twitter.com/1Hjx5LCfAe

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 7, 2023

Then, eventually, Chelsea did take the lead and manage to level up on aggregate. Mateo Kovacic bundled his way quite far before Ben Chilwell eventually managed to cross. The ball made its way to Sterling and the England international scuffed a first effort before managing to quickly re-adjust and hammer home a strike into the roof of the net.

Within moments of the restart after half-time, Chelsea were on the attack and had a major claim for the penalty after Ben Chilwell’s cross hit Marius Wolf’s hand. After consultation with the Video Assistant Referee, referee Danny Makkelie gave a penalty kick.

Kai Havertz stepped up and did manage to send the goalkeeper the wrong way but he could only strike the post and Dortmund managed to blast clear. However, VAR intervened once again to re-award the penalty due to encroachment. Havertz, especially cool in the circumstances, stepped up again and this time slotted home after sending the ‘keeper the wrong way again. 

A couple of minutes after Chelsea had taken an aggregate lead, it was Borussia Dortmund’s key man, Jude Bellingham, who had a major opportunity to level the two-legged score but the Englishman could only fire wide from around six yards out. 

Chelsea thought they may have sealed the tie later on in the second-half when second-half sub Conor Gallagher walked the ball in after Sterling had burst through but Sterling, once again, had gone too early in his run. 

Borussia Dortmund dominated the latter stages of the match and Marius Wolf had a great opportunity but a blocked shot was easily saved and held by Kepa Arrizabalaga. Chelsea had chances on the counter but another goal was not required as the Londoners held on for a come from behind victory in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. 

The big picture: Graham Potter’s Chelsea reign has been an extremely difficult one so far but this could prove to be a major moment and night for his spell in charge. Dortmund will now turn their attention to focusing on a title challenge in the Bundesliga. 

Man of the match: Kai Havertz. Both Enzo Fernandez and Mateo Kovacic were instrumental in the victory, alongside Raheem Sterling. However, the match winner was Havertz and the German also had his most effective performance, generally, in recent months. 

Expected goals: Chelsea (2.24) 2-0 (0.84) Borussia Dortmund