Maybe this would be the turning level for underneath fireplace Chelsea supervisor Graham Potter. He went into Tuesday’s recreation towards Borussia Dortmund with questions hanging over his future. Now he has the Champions League quarterfinals to look ahead to. Kai Havertz’ twice-taken penalty secured a 2-0 win in entrance co-owner Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge to ease the strain on Potter and spark celebrations contained in the stadium hardly ever seen throughout such a troubled marketing campaign.
Chelsea superior 2-1 on mixture after having trailed 1-0 from the round-of-16 first leg in Dortmund final month.
“We have been through a tough period and this competition means a lot for us,” Potter stated.
“We wanted to progress and get into the last eight and it sets us up for the next few weeks.”
There actually have been positives for Potter to take from an important win of his early reign. Not solely did his group present the character to get well from dropping the primary leg, it did so by scoring two objectives in a recreation for the primary time in 2023.
Following Saturday’s 1-0 win towards Leeds, that is the primary time Chelsea has recorded back-to-back victories since October. Notably, it was additionally an evening when Potter’s luck might have turned, with VAR enjoying a significant position within the Havertz winner after Raheem Sterling had lashed the 2021 European champions forward on the evening within the forty third minute. Referee Danny Makkelie was instructed to take a second have a look at a handball by Marius Wolf, which prompted the official to award a spot kick.
Havertz stepped up, despatched Alexander Meyer the flawed means, however noticed his shot come again off the submit and cleared. As Dortmund celebrated, VAR started working once more this time recognizing an encroachment within the field, which meant the kick needed to be retaken. Havertz repeated his method, despatched Meyer in the other way once more, however on this event, he discovered the again of the online to place Chelsea in entrance within the 53rd.
“I don’t know what I was thinking but the referee let me retake the penalty,” he stated.
“I was a bit nervous but I scored. I tried to wait and look at the keeper and the second one was a bit easier.”
Potter admitted he could not watch the second penalty. A run of simply two wins in 12 had elevated hypothesis about his future, and elimination from the Champions League would have positioned additional scrutiny on his place. Chelsea had rediscovered that profitable feeling simply in time for the largest evening of his early reign.
The west London membership ended its six-game winless run with victory towards Leeds on Saturday, however the strain was nonetheless on the supervisor given the way wherein the season has unravelled since October.
The Champions League represents Chelsea’s final probability for silverware and probably the one route again into subsequent season’s competitors for the two-time European champions, who at present sit tenth within the Premier League. Dortmund arrived on the again of 10 straight wins in all competitions, together with the 1-0 victory within the first leg.
The German group additionally has one of the vital sought-after gamers in world soccer in England midfielder Jude Bellingham however obtained an early blow when key participant Julian Brandt was injured and substituted after simply 5 minutes.
Chelsea went on to dominate the half and took the lead two minutes earlier than the break by Sterling, who fired previous Dortmund goalkeeper Meyer on the second try after Ben Chilwell’s cross.
Havertz, whose aim secured the Champions League title for Chelsea in a 1-0 win within the ultimate towards Manchester City two years in the past, had already hit the submit within the first half and seen one other effort dominated out for offside.
And he thought he had let one other probability go by when firing his first penalty towards the submit earlier than VAR got here to his rescue.
“The last two weeks were hard, we lost a lot of games,” Havertz stated.
“Tonight was important. This is a big tournament and it’s the last trophy that we can win. We showed character and that we want to keep going.”
While Bellingham described the retaken penalty as a ‘joke’, Dortmund coach Edin Terzic resisted the temptation to criticize the referee.
“Fair play to Chelsea and congratulations,” he stated.
“Both games were very close for both teams but, at the end of the day, they deserved it.”
In the evening’s different recreation, Benfica routed Club Brugge 5-1 to advance to the quarterfinals 7-1 on mixture.
