Chelsea on Tuesday kept their season alive by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2-1 on aggregate.
Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz, with a twice-taken penalty, got the goals as the Blues relieved the pressure on manager Graham Potter.
The Englishman’s job was on the line after a season that has so far failed to deliver any return on a world-record injection of more than ￡500 million (US$592 million) in one season on new signings.
Photo: AFP
Chelsea had won just three of their previous 16 matches to fall to 10th in the English Premier League and bow out early of both domestic cups, but some of their expensive collection of stars showed up in time to remain in the hunt for a third European Cup.
“There was a fantastic feeling in the dressing room. We have 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 next few weeks.”
Dortmund arrived in England on the back of a 10-game winning streak in all competitions, but the visitors posed barely any attacking threat in the first half bar a Marco Reus free-kick that Kepa Arrizabalaga did brilliantly to palm to safety.
Photo: Reuters
“We have to say, over the course of two games, Chelsea deserve to go through,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said. “Both legs were very tight games. In this type of game inches and moments decide if you are going to the next round or not.”
In Tuesday’s other game, Goncalo Ramos struck twice to help SL Benfica romp to a 5-1 Champions League last-16, second-leg win over Club Brugge KV in Lisbon and a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Ramos, who shot to global fame during the FIFA World Cup when he was selected ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal and netted a hat-trick against Switzerland, set up the opener for Rafa Silva.
The 21-year-old forward then produced two clinical finishes either side of halftime to ensure the two-time European Cup winners would reach the quarter-finals in consecutive seasons.
Joao Mario struck from the spot to score in his fifth consecutive Champions League match — Portugal great Eusebio was the last player to manage the feat for the club.
David Neres added the fifth for Benfica before Bjorn Meijer netted a spectacular late consolation.
Roger Schmidt’s ruthless side finished top of a group containing heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and made light work of manager Scott Parker’s knockout stage novices.
“It’s always good [to score], a striker like me makes a living from that, but the most important thing was that we won and played well,” Ramos told Eleven Sports. “Whoever we get [in the next round], we will play in the same way.”
Benfica have only been beaten twice all season across all competitions and dominated from the outset against the Belgian visitors.
“The result hits us hard,” Brugge midfielder Hans Vanaken said. “The way in which it happened was painful, too, because we shipped the goals too easily.”
“I am emotional because we had a great campaign ... you don’t want to go out like that,” he added.
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