Coming into the match trailing 0-1, Chelsea found goals from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz as Graham Potter’s side brushed aside its German opponent at home.
Perhaps this will be the turning point for under fire Chelsea director Graham Potter.
He went into Tuesday’s game against Borussia Dortmund with questions hanging over his future. Now he has the titleholders League quarterfinals to look forward to.
Kai Havertz ’ doubly- taken penalty secured a 2- 0 palm in front of owner Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge to ease the pressure on Potter and spark fests inside the colosseum infrequently seen during such a worried crusade.
Chelsea advanced 2- 1 on total after having traced 1- 0 from the round- of- 16 first leg in Dortmund last month.
“We’ve been through a tough period, and this competition means a lot for us, ” Potter said.
“We wanted to progress and get into the last eight and it sets us up for the coming many weeks. ” There clearly were cons for Potter to take from the most important palm of his early reign.
Not only did his platoon show the character to recover from losing the first leg, it did so by scoring two pretensions in a game for the first time in 2023.
Following Saturday’s 1- 0 palm against Leeds, this is the first time Chelsea has recorded back- to- back palms since October.
Specially, it was also a night when Potter’s luck may have turned, with VAR playing a major part in the Havertz winner after Raheem Sterling had lashed the 2021 European champion ahead on the night in the 43rd nanosecond.
Adjudicator Danny Makkelie was instructed to take a alternate look at a handball by Marius Wolf, which urged the functionary to award a spot kick.
Havertz stepped up, transferred Alexander Meyer the wrong way, but saw his shot come back off the post and cleared.
As Dortmund celebrated, VAR got to work again — this time spotting an encroachment in the box, which meant the kick had to be reacquired.
Havertz repeated his fashion, transferred Meyer in the contrary direction again, but on this occasion, he set up the reverse of the net to put Chelsea in front in the 53rd.
“I don’t know what I was allowing, but the adjudicator let me regain the penalty, ” he said.
“I was a bit nervous, but I scored. I tried to stay and look at the keeper, and the alternate bone was a bit easier. ” Potter admitted he couldn’t watch the alternate penalty.
A run of just two triumphs in 12 had increased enterprise about his future, and elimination from the title holders League would have placed farther scrutiny on his position.
Chelsea had rediscovered that winning feeling just in time for the biggest night of his early reign.
The west London club ended its six- game winless run with palm against Leeds on Saturday, but the pressure was still on the director given the manner in which the season has unravelled since October.
The titleholders League represents Chelsea’s last chance for flatware and conceivably the only route back into coming season’s competition for the two- time European champion, which presently sits 10th in the Premier League.
Dortmund arrived on the reverse of 10 straight triumphs in all competitions, including the 1- 0 palm in the first leg.
The German platoon also has one of the most sought- after players in world football in England midfielder Jude Bellingham but entered an early blow when crucial player Julian Brandt was injured and substituted after just five twinkles.
Chelsea went on to dominate the half and took the supereminent two twinkles before the break through Sterling, who fired once Dortmund goalkeeper Meyer at the alternate attempt after Ben Chilwell’s cross.
Havertz, whose thing secured the titleholders League title for Chelsea in a 1- 0 palm in the final against Manchester City two times agone, had formerly hit the post in the first half and seen another trouble ruled out for offside.
And he allowed he’d let another chance go by when firing his first penalty against the post before VAR came to his deliverance.
“The last two weeks were hard, we lost a lot of games, ” Havertz said.
“Tonight( Tuesday) was important. This is a big event, and it’s the last jewel that we can win. We showed character and that we want to keep going. ” While Bellingham described the reacquired penalty as a “ joke, ” Dortmund trainer Edin Terzic defied the temptation to condemn the adjudicator.
“Fair play to Chelsea and congratulations, ” he said.
“Both games were veritably close for both brigades, but, at the end of the day, they merited it. ” In the night’s other game, Benfica routed Club Brugge 5- 1 to advance to the quarterfinals 7- 1 on total. Know More Football News….
