Chelsea beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a hard-fought comeback from 1-0 down in the first leg at Signal Iduna Park.
Graham Potter’s side, who fought back to halt Dortmund’s positive momentum with world-class stars such as Joao Felix, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling, continued their good form after last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Leeds, having gone six games without a win and conceded just one goal.
Sterling’s strike late in the first half and Havertz’s penalty at the start of the second half were enough to turn around a tie Dortmund had dropped in London. The German side’s unbeaten run of ten straight wins in all competitions came to a crashing halt.
At Stamford Bridge, London traffic prevented Borussia Dortmund from arriving on time for a game that had to start ten minutes late. In addition, Julian Brandt’s injury after five minutes condemned the German side at the start of the game, with Chelsea much more incisive. Even so, as the minutes ticked by, the Germans settled into their opponents’ half, at times disabling the home side’s game plan.
The first chance came from Marco Reus, who forced Kepa to stretch to prevent the first from a set-piece from the edge of the area, but the Londoners were able to react with a shot against the post from Havertz and another from Joao Félix that was met by Meyer. In a frantic end to the first half, it was Sterling who finally found the net after taking advantage of a cross from Chillwell into the heart of the box to level the scores.
In the second half, the Londoners turned the tie on its head from the penalty spot. Although Havertz hit the post with his first spot-kick, the referee’s order to retake the spot-kick allowed the German to score with his second attempt. From then on, Borussia stepped up a gear, pinning the English side back in their own area, but their lack of success ultimately condemned them to the final whistle.
In the end, the Blue’s defensive solidity, with Reece James and Cucurrella giving a masterclass, and the good work of a great Kepa kept the home side in a fearless end to the game. Although Bellingham and Reyna didn’t stop trying until the end, the scoreboard didn’t move again until the final whistle.
TECHNICAL FACTS AND FIGURES
–RESULT: CHELSEA, 2 – BORUSSIA DORTMUND, 0.
–LINE-UP
CHELSEA: Kepa; W.Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; Reece James, Kovacic (Pilisic, min.83), Enzo Fernández (Zacaria, min.87), Chilwell; Sterling (Loftus-Cheek, min.83), Havertz and Joao Félix (Gallagher, min.67).
BORUSSIA DORTMUND: Meyer-Schade; Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Brandt (Reyna, min.5), Bellingham, Can, Ozcan (Bynoe-Gittens, min.64), Reus; Haller (Malen, min.77).
–GOALS:
1-0, 43rd minute. Sterling.
2-0, 53rd minute. Havertz.
–REFEREE: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands). Yellow cards for Sule (min.41), Wolf (min.92) and Bellingham (min.98) for Borussia Dortmund, and Arrizabalaga (min.65), Enzo Fernández (min.78), Chilwell (min.92) and Cucurella (min.96) for Chelsea.
–STADIUM: Stamford Bridge.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
