◤UEFA Champions League◢ Raheem Sterling's goal and Kai Havertz's controversial penalty sends Chelsea into the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund..

2023-03-08 18:03

◤UEFA Champions League◢ Raheem Sterling




Chelsea overturned their terrible form and comfortably defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the second leg of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Round of 16s knockout stage to advance to the quarter-finals on Tuesday.


In the first half, Félix strucked the ball from a difficult angle in the box and was saved, then Havertz's shot hits the crossbar. Later, Reus' free kick was expertly saved and Havertz' shot hit the post. Afterwards, Kovačić's volley skyrocketed while Havertz' supplementary shot eneded up in the net, but was ruled out for an offside due to Sterling. Following that, Félix's shot was blocked, and Sterling finally broke the deadlock with a supplementary shot. In the second half, after Havertz's penalty hits the post, because a player broke into the penalty area when the latter took the penalty, he was given a chance to be retake it, and his second attempt went in. Subsequently, Bellingham's close-range strike was blocked, Wolf's volley was blocked, and Süle's long-range shot was slightly wide of the post. At the critical moment, Bellingham's header went slightly above the crossbar, and Wolf's supplementary shot was blocked. In the end, Chelsea won 2-0 and advanced to the quarter-finals.




First Half


In the 6th minute, Raheem Sterling passed horizontally from the front, João Félix quickly followed up, got the ball, dribbled and cuts into the edge of the byline on the left side of box before shooting with his left-foot against the outrushing Alexander Meyer at a very close distance, but his shot was parried out for a corner by the latter who dived towards the bottom left corner to make a save.


2 minutes later, João Félix made an over-the-top thought pass from the center circle, Kai Havertz successfully beaten the offside trap, quickly followed up, got the ball, dribbled into the right side of the box before shooting with his right foot, unfortunately, his shot hits the crossbar and bounced off, Chelsea missed the golden opportunity to break the deadlock early!


In the 17th minute, Dortmund got a free kick opportunity. Marco Reus took the free kick from outside the penalty area and directly strucked with his right foot, but his attempt was single handedly palmed away by by Kepa Arrizabalaga who had to making a flying save towards to upper left corner.


In the 28th minute, Reece James made crossed into the box from the right wing, the ball was initially blocked off not far away by Marius Wolf, Havertz quickly followed up, picked up the loose ball and then made a supplementary shot with his left foot from the center of the box, unfortunately the ball hits the bottom right corner of the post and bounced off, the Premier League giants missed another golden opportunity to break the deadlock!


5 minutes later, Ben Chilwell passes horizontally from the left side of the box, the ball was initially blocked off not far away by Niklas Süle and Emre Can successfully, after quickly following up, Mateo Kovačić rose high and volleyed with his right foot, but his shot flew high out of the pitch.


In the 38th minute, Felix made an over-the-top long pass from his own half, Sterling quickly followed up, got the ball, dribbled into the right side of the box before shooting with his right-foot against the outrushing Meyer, his shot was saved not far away by the latter, after quickly following up and picking the loose ball, Havertz then shot into the net in the upper left corner of the net with his left-foot from the center of the box, however the linesman immediately raised his flag to indicate that Sterling had been in an offside position in the first place, hence the goal was ruled out!


5 minutes later, Chelsea got a free kick opportunity. Chilwell took the free kick from outside the penalty area and crossed it into the box, upon receiving the pass, Kalidou Koulibaly passed horizontally again from a very close distance at the center of the box, Félix quickly followed up and volleyed with his right-foot from the center of the box upon receiving the pass, but his shot was blocked by Nico Schlotterbeck.


In the 43rd minute, Chilwell made a low cross into the box from the left wing, Raheem Sterling quickly followed up, got the ball, cuts and dribbled past Marco Reus before volleying into the upper center of the net with his right-foot. Chelsea finally broke the deadlock and took a 1-0 lead!


At the end of the first half, Chelsea temporarily led Borussia Dortmund 1-0 as they entered half-time.




Second Half


Both teams switched sides as the match continued. In the 47th minute, Chilwell crossed into the box from the edge of the byline on the left side of the box, the ball was suspected to have hit Marius Wolf's arm before bouncing off not far away, after quickly following up and picking up the loose ball, Kovačić turned around and shot with his right-foot at the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was caught by Meyer who dived to the bottom left corner. Immediately after that, the Blues' players headed by Marc Cucurella immediately protested to the referee and asked for an opportunity to be awarded a penalty.


For the sake of fairness, the referee immediately notified the VAR assistant referee to intervene and went to the sidelines to watch the VAR video replay in person. After the checking of the VAR video replay, the referee team unanimously ruled that Wolf's handball foul was correct, so Chelsea was awarded with a penalty on the spot.


Havertz took the penalty with a left-footed strike and unfortunately hit the bottom right corner of the post, but the VAR assistant referee suddenly intervened again. Under the checking of the VAR video playback, the referee team found that before Havertz took the penalty kick, Chilwell had already encroached into the penalty area and caused the game to be unfair, so the referee asked Havertz to retake the penalty on the spot!


Kai Havertz retook the penalty with a slow run-up, and after a pause, he scored with his left-footed shot flying into the bottom right corner of the net, Meyer even dived to the wrong direction, Chelsea expanded their lead to 2-0!


In the 58th minute, Rafaël Guerreiro made crossed into the box, after receiving the pass, Sébastien Haller volleyed with his left-foot from a very close distance at the center of the box, he shot was initially blocked off not far away by Chilwell, after picking the loose ball, Jude Bellingham made a right-footed supplementary shot from the center of the box, but his shot just slightly went wide of the right post.


7 minutes later, Giovanni Reyna passes horizontally from the right wing, Marius Wolf quickly followed up, got the ball, and then volleyed with his right-foot from the right side of the box, but his shot was saved by Kepa.


In the 73rd minute, Reyna passes from the right wing, Niklas Süle quickly followed up, got the ball, took a few steps and then took a long shot with his right foot outside the penalty area, but his shot just slightly went wide of the left post.


In the 89th minute, Wolf crossed into the box from the right wing, Bellingham rose high and attempted with a header from the center of the box, however his effort went slightly high off the crossbar.


In the 5th minute of stoppage time, Reyna crossed into the box from the right wing, Wolf rose high and attempted with a header from the center of the box, his effort was accidentally blocked off not far away by Donyell Malen, after picking up up the loose ball, Wolf then made a supplementary shot with his right foot from the center of the box, but his shot was held onto by Kepa.


As the final whistle is blown, Chelsea overturned their deficit from the first-leg and defeated the Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to advance to the quarter-finals.