Chelsea beats Dortmund 2-0, advances to Champions League QF

Maybe this will be the turning point for under fire Chelsea manager Graham PotterHe went into Tuesdays game against Borussia Dortmund with questions hanging over his future Now he has the Champions League quarterfinals to look forward toKai Havertz twicetaken penalty secured a 20 win in front coowner Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge to ease the pressure on Potter and spark celebrations inside the stadium rarely seen during such a troubled campaignChelsea advanced 21 on aggregate after having trailed 10 from the roundof16 first leg in Dortmund last monthWe have been through a tough period and this competition means a lot for us Potter saidWe wanted to progress and get into the last eight and it sets us up for the next few weeksThere certainly were positives for Potter to take from the most important win of his early reignNot only did his team show the character to recover from losing the first leg it did so by scoring two goals in a game for the first time in 2023Following Saturdays 10 win against Leeds this is the first time Chelsea has recorded backtoback victories since OctoberNotably it was also a night when Potters luck may have turned with VAR playing a major role in the Havertz winner after Raheem Sterling had lashed the 2021 European champions ahead on the night in the 43rd minuteAlso readIrsquom not the problem Chelsea boss Graham Potter after loss to SouthamptonReferee Danny Makkelie was instructed to take a second look at a handball by Marius Wolf which prompted the official to award a spot kickHavertz stepped up sent Alexander Meyer the wrong way but saw his shot come back off the post and clearedAs Dortmund celebrated VAR got to work again this time spotting an encroachment in the box which meant the kick had to be retakenHavertz repeated his technique sent Meyer in the opposite direction again but on this occasion he found the back of the net to put Chelsea in front in the 53rdI dont know what I was thinking but the referee let me retake the penalty he saidI was a bit nervous but I scored I tried to wait and look at the keeper and the second one was a bit easierPotter admitted he couldnt watch the second penaltyA run of just two wins in 12 had increased speculation about his future and elimination from the Champions League would have placed further scrutiny on his positionChelsea had rediscovered that winning feeling just in time for the biggest night of his early reignThe west London club ended its sixgame winless run with victory against Leeds on Saturday but the pressure was still on the manager given the manner in which the season has unravelled since OctoberThe Champions League represents Chelseas last chance for silverware and possibly the only route back into next seasons competition for the twotime European champions who currently sit 10th in the Premier LeagueDortmund arrived on the back of 10 straight wins in all competitions including the 10 victory in the first legThe German team also has one of the most soughtafter players in world soccer in England midfielder Jude Bellingham but received an early blow when key player Julian Brandt was injured and substituted after just five minutesChelsea went on to dominate the half and took the lead two minutes before the break through Sterling who fired past Dortmund goalkeeper Meyer at the second attempt after Ben Chilwells crossHavertz whose goal secured the Champions League title for Chelsea in a 10 win in the final against Manchester City two years ago had already hit the post in the first half and seen another effort ruled out for offsideAnd he thought he had let another chance go by when firing his first penalty against the post before VAR came to his rescueThe last two weeks were hard we lost a lot of games Havertz saidTonight was important This is a big tournament and its the last trophy that we can win We showed character and that we want to keep goingWhile Bellingham described the retaken penalty as a joke Dortmund coach Edin Terzic resisted the temptation to criticize the refereeFair play to Chelsea and congratulations he saidBoth games were very close for both teams but at the end of the day they deserved itIn the nights other game Benfica routed Club Brugge 51 to advance to the quarterfinals 71 on aggregateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever