Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz both scored as Chelsea beat Dortmund 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League on 2-1 aggregates.
The Blues who are in recovery mode were successful in overturning the 1-0 first leg deficit they suffered at the Signal Iduna Park a fortnight ago.
Chelsea kicked off the game on the front foot, dominating in the early stages in which Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix missed great opportunities.
Havertz also missed an opportunity to have his side up earlier on. The German was put through but fired wide as pressure from his marker slightly pushed him out of the shooting position in the 7th minute.
The visitors who had won 11 games in a row came close to getting the opener but Chelsea custodian Kepa Arizabalaga was forced to full stretch to deny Marcos Reus from a well-taken freekick in the 16th minute.
Havertz thought he had gotten the breakthrough in the 27th minute only to watch in disbelief his well executed effort ricocheted off the inside of the post. Everyone was left wondering how his effort failed to hit the back of the net.
The hosts raided Edin Terzic’s men relentlessly and Havertz was at it again. He put the ball in the net with a spectacular effort but Sterling was adjudged to be offside in the buildup .
The former Liverpool and Manchester winger finally broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute with a superb blockbuster following a cut back low cross from Ben Chilwell on the left . The England international miss-kicked the ball on his first attempt but recovered to fire past a hapless Alexander Meyer in goal.
After the break with the tie back to square one on aggregate, the Blues picked up from where they had stopped and Chilwell once again was involved when he tried to cross. Marius Wolf handled the ball in the forbidden area and Graham Potter’s men appealed for a penalty. The referee had initially hesitated, but awarded after the VAR review.
Havertz stepped up and converted from the spot on his second attempt as he was denied by the upright on the first attempt. The referee asked the German to retake the penalty so he made no mistake to double the lead which condemned the Die Schwarzgelben to their first defeat in 2023.
The Bundesliga outfit tried to fight back but Chelsea custodian Kepa Arizabalaga stood firm to keep their opponents at bay as his London side held on to win 2-1 on aggregate to advance to the last eight.
It was the first time Chelsea were winning back to back games since October last year, and it was also the first time Chelsea were scoring more than one goal in a match this year.
For Dortmund, it was the first time they were not the winning side in 2023, and the first time they were held scoreless in nearly four months.
Kai Havertz speaking to BT sport after the game said:
“I don’t know what I was thinking (when it hit the post) but the referee let me retake the penalty. I was a bit nervous but I scored. I tried to wait and look at the keeper and the second one was a bit easy.
“The last two weeks were hard, we lost a lot of games. Tonight was important , this is a big tournament and it’s the last trophy that we can win. We showed character and we want to keep going.”
