Chelsea 2-0 Borussia Dortmund: Chelsea have reached the last eight in Europe. At Stamford Bridge, Graham Potter’s team brushed aside the 1-0 defeat it suffered in the first leg at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday evening. A 2-0 win through goals from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz means that the Londoners are in the quarter-finals.
The match, which started a little later due to traffic problems on the bus from Dortmund to Stamford Bridge, only lasted a very short time for Julian Brandt. After just five minutes, the attacker had to be replaced with what appeared to be an upper leg injury. The Blues, with Hakim Ziyech on the bench, started strong. Kalidou Koulibaly and Havertz made attempts on goal. Sterling was only allowed through on Dortmund keeper Alexander Meyer, but was indecisive and eventually saw the flag go up.
Dortmund came close via Marco Reus, who was allowed to take a free kick from about twenty meters. Kepa Arrizabalaga kept the Dortmund captain’s attempt well out of the corner. After half an hour, Chelsea were extremely menacing: after Havertz’s attempt, the ball rolled almost teasingly slowly over the goal line via the inside of the post, without going over it. Havertz did score a little later – a brilliant goal moreover – but a narrow offside situation ruined the party.
On the stroke of halftime, the roof almost came off in West London. Ben Chilwell chased a lost ball and put Sterling into position. He first mowed past the ball and played a defender and chased the ball hard against the ropes.
Second half
After more than five minutes in the second half, the diptych tilted in English favor. Chilwell’s cross hit Wolf on the hand. Danny Makkelie and his VAR Pol van Boekel thought it was enough for a penalty kick. Havertz sent Meyer into the wrong corner, but hit the post. As both teams had players catching up too early, Makkelie had the penalty retaken. This time Havertz did not fail: 2-0. The first time Chelsea has scored more than once in 2023, and it came at an extremely opportune time. Dortmund came into action: Jude Bellingham shot wide from close range.
BVB tried everything: Sébastien Haller was replaced by Donyell Malen. The yellow-blacks mainly had to take many set pieces in attractive positions. Chelsea failed to decide the game on the other side. In the back, the team wobbled a bit, but remained upright without really giving away any great opportunities. Reason for an explosion of joy at Potter, owner Todd Boehly and another 40,000 Chelsea supporters in the stadium.
In the Premier League the position is hopeless, Chelsea has long been eliminated in the FA Cup, but in the Champions League the two-time champion of Europe still has a chance of winning a prize. This does not apply to Dortmund: Edin Terzic’s team is a leader in the Bundesliga and is also in the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal. However, the club’s only Champions League crown remains that of 1997.
