Chelsea overturned a first-leg deficit to secure a 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Blues relieved pressure on manager Graham Potter with goals from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz, who scored twice on penalty kicks.
The Englishman’s job was in jeopardy after a season in which a world-record injection of over £500 million ($600 million) in new signings failed to yield a return.
Chelsea had won only three of their previous sixteen matches, causing them to fall to tenth place in the Premier League and early elimination from both domestic cup competitions.
However, a few of their expensive collection of stars appeared in time to keep them in contention for a third European Cup.
10 minutes were added to the start time after Dortmund’s arrival at the stadium was delayed by heavy London traffic.
As soon as the action began, Chelsea exploded from the starting blocks.
Alexander Meyer was forced to leave his line to block Joao Felix’s shot from a tight angle before Havertz fired a golden opportunity into the side netting.
Dortmund arrived in England riding a 10-game win streak across all competitions.
Except for a Marco Reus free-kick that Kepa Arrizabalaga deftly deflected to safety, the visitors posed little offensive threat in the first half.
At the other end, chances continued to fluctuate. Havertz smashed a volley off the inside of the post and then found the net via the underside of the crossbar, but the goal was disallowed because Sterling was offside earlier in the play.
Kalidou Koulibaly missed a wide-open goal off a Ben Chilwell free kick, and Felix’s follow-up attempt was blocked on the line.
Potter was unusually animated on the sidelines as he continually roused the crowd to keep pushing his team forward.
Three minutes prior to halftime, the home crowd finally had something to cheer about.
Sterling’s first attempt was another one to forget, as he swiped and missed Chilwell’s low cross, but the England international regained his composure to dribble past Reus and shoot high into the net.
This was Chelsea’s third goal in the previous eight games.
Havertz’s penalty early in the second half marked the first time since December 27 that Potter’s team scored more than once. However, the German international needed two penalties to make his mark.
After a VAR review, Marius Wolf was penalized for handling Chilwell’s cross.
Havertz’s initial penalty kick rebounded off the post, but VAR once again saved Chelsea as Dortmund were further penalized for encroachment.
There was no second chance, as Havertz calmly slotted the ball in the same manner, this time into the opposite corner of the goal.
Chelsea’s spending spree may have eliminated them from contention for Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, who is expected to have his pick of Europe’s top clubs this summer.
On his return to England, Bellingham was not at his best and missed a golden opportunity to tie the game just before the hour mark when he side-footed wide.
Chelsea were guilty of attempting to protect their lead in the fourth quarter and relied on Kepa to bail them out when Wolf stung the goalkeeper’s hands.
However, they should have added a third goal on the counterattack as Sterling again failed to maintain his run before setting up Conor Gallagher for an empty-net goal.
Photo by EPA/Neil Hall
