Chelsea and Benfica secured a place in the Champions League.
Raheem Sterling scored a 1-0 relief goal for Chelsea. PDO
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is known as a rather snobbish club owner.
In less than a year, the Yankees have invested around 620 million in 17 new players and also attracted a Portuguese star of João Félix with a loan deal to Stamford Bridge.
Still, the Blues’ game has been unusually tight.
In the Champions League, it was forced to win on Tuesday. Borussia Dortmund had grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the opening half and arrived in London on a historic ten-game winning streak.
Manager acquired by Boehly Graham Potter has been in great difficulty with the owner’s buying and selling business. When the owner invests 621 million in new players, he surely expects to see them on the field.
Sterling hit
From Boehly’s acquisitions, they got on the field in the Dortmund match Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Enzo Fernandez.
Among them, Sterling excelled right from the opening kick in wasting goal posts. Toppari Koulibaly, on the other hand, failed completely in the 40th minute, when Ben Chilwell kicked him the ball in front of an empty net.
At that point, it felt like it was going to be another one of those nights when the ball just won’t go into the net.
Of course, Chelsea’s game had an exceptional idea and purpose. Mixed Reece James that Chilwell on their flanks were aggressively looking for centering positions. The intensity of the team and the speed of the top players produced constant problems for the yellow shirts.
Still, that facilitating equalizer was largely based on that. Chilwell again offered a delicious pass to Sterling, who was waiting for the ball with a tight fist. However, the attacker’s first attempt was thwarted by a orthodox kick.
Luckily for him, the ball stayed in place. A quick diversion took Marco Reus lever, and released Sterling into an even better draw position.
This time the ball went like a missile into the roof of the goal.
Havertz decided
Boehly’s venting was a huge relief, even though the combined goals were even at this stage. The sold-out Stamford Bridge felt that, if necessary, it even put the ball into the Dortmund net again.
It wasn’t needed, because the VAR council was quick by Marius Wolf a harmless hand foul, and the referee Danny Makkelie pointed the ball at the spot.
Kai Havertz hit the post of the first attempt, but Makkelie was allowed to go to court because some of the Dortmund players had rushed to the box too early.
On his second attempt, the German calibrated his kick more accurately and placed the ball in the bottom corner.
The story continues after the picture
Benfica’s David Neres (right) celebrated Kotkie’s 5-0 goal against Club Brugge. PDO
Dortmund needed a solution to the opening part in London Karim Adeyemi. The youngster would have offered such deep runs that would have been poison for the hosts’ defense. The guests’ task didn’t help either By Julian Brandt injury after only five minutes of play.
Chelsea won the match 2–0, and the quarter-final 2–1. It will be joined by Benfica in the top eight, who beat Club Brugge 7–1 on aggregate.