Chelsea upstream into the quarter-finals of the Champions League

Coach Graham Potter changed a series of positions compared to the first leg loss 0-1 at Signal Iduna Park when using a 3-4-3 system with three central defenders Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella. In attack, the British coach pushed Hakim Ziyech and rookie of $ 119 million Mykhailo Mudryk to the bench, and used a trio of Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz and Joao Felix. In it, Mudryk did not even play a minute.

With 25 years and 255 days, Chelsea used the second youngest starting line-up in a Champions League knockout match, after the second leg of the 1/8 round against Bayern in the 2019-2020 season with 25 years and 236 days.

The match at Stamford Bridge took place 10 minutes later than scheduled because the bus carrying Dortmund members was stuck in traffic and arrived at the pitch 30 minutes later. This was the starting point for the away team's unlucky day, when Julian Brandt was injured and left the field to make way for Giovanni Reyna in the 5th minute.

However, Dortmund entered the game not bad and repeatedly threatened the Chelsea goal. In the 16th minute, from a free kick with a distance of 25 meters, captain Marco Reus shot through the fence into the high corner, but goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga still managed to save. More than ten minutes later, Reyna sent the ball across the Chelsea goal, but none of his teammates finished.

The host improved the game from the second half of the first half with the explosion of the duo Havertz and Sterling. In the 28th minute, from the bad break of the Dortmund player, Havertz volleyed his left foot with one touch to the near corner of the column. Ten minutes later, the German star cut the sole of his left foot to the far corner to score Alexander Meyer, but the goal was disallowed because Sterling was offside before.

The difference was only made 43 minutes in. From Ben Chilwell's cross, Sterling missed his left foot but still controlled the ball. The English player overcame Reus and then hit the roof of the visitors' net.

Since his Champions League debut in September 2014, Sterling has contributed to 44 goals, including 27 goals and 17 assists. This is the best number among British players competing in the tournament. In particular, only Wayne Rooney has scored more goals than Sterling with 30 goals.

"The Blues" completed the comeback early in the second half. 47 minutes, after going to the border to review the video, referee Danny Makkelie determined that Marius Wolf used his hand to stop Chilwell's cross and gave Chelsea a penalty.

On the 11m mark, Havertz shot to the right corner, while Meyer poured to the left, but the ball bounced off the post. VAR continued to step in and determined the Dortmund player had entered the box before Havertz had finished, and allowed Chelsea to retake the penalty. In the second kick, the German star still sank to the right corner, opposite the judgment of the Dortmund goalkeeper.

Out on the touchline, Potter lowered his head to his knees and dared not watch his students take the penalty kick. The English coach only knew Havertz successfully finished when the assistants and fans at Stamford Bridge exploded with emotion.

Then, coach Edin Terzic strengthened the attack when he launched strikers Donyell Malen and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens into the field, helping Dortmund create suffocating pressure. But the best chance that the Bundesliga representative created was just Jude Bellingham's 6 meter wide cross.

Chelsea even put the ball into the Dortmund net for the third time, when Sterling crossed to Conor Gallagher to shoot into an empty goal. But the goal was again denied by Sterling's offside. However, a 2-0 victory was enough for Chelsea to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. For the fifth time, "The Blues" continue in the Champions League after losing the first leg - the best statistics in the tournament and equal to Barca, Juventus, Real.

Potter also became the second manager to win five games in a single Champions League season, after Bobby Robson with Newcastle in 2002-2003. Before beating Dormund in the second leg of the 1/8 round, Chelsea defeated Milan 3-0, RB Salzburg 2-1, Dinamo 2-1, Milan 2-0 in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Dortmund received their first defeat in 2023 and broke a ten-game winning streak since the 2022 World Cup. In the last six years, the German representative has only reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 2020-2021 season.