Chelsea 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Chelsea advance 2-1 on aggregate)
CHELSEA KEPT THEIR season alive by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League 2-1 on aggregate on Tuesday.
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 over £500 million in one season on new signings.
Chelsea had won just three of their previous 16 matches to fall to 10th in the 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.
Kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes after Dortmund got stuck in the heavy London traffic on arrival to the stadium.
Once the action got underway, Chelsea sped out of the blocks.
Alexander Meyer had to fly off his line to block from Joao Felix from a narrow angle before Havertz fired a big chance into the side netting.
Dortmund arrived in England on the back of a 10-game winning run 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.
Chances continued to come and go at the other end. Havertz smashed an effort off the inside of the post and then finally found the net via the underside of the bar only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside against Sterling earlier in the move.
The worst miss was to come as Kalidou Koulibaly miscued with an open goal from Ben Chilwell’s free-kick and Felix’s follow-up effort was blocked on the line.
Potter was uncharacteristically animated on the touchline as he constantly whipped the crowd up to keep pushing his side forward.
And the home fans finally had something to celebrate three minutes before half-time.
Sterling’s first attempt was another one to forget as he swiped and missed Chilwell’s low cross, but the England international composed himself to manouevre past Reus and fire high into the net.
That was just Chelsea’s third goal in the last eight games.
Havertz’s penalty early in the second half meant Potter’s men scored more than once for the first time since 27 December, but the German international needed two spot-kicks to make his mark.
Marius Wolf was penalised for handling Chilwell’s cross after a VAR review.
Havertz’s first penalty came back off the post, but VAR came to Chelsea’s rescue once more as Dortmund were further punished for encroaching.
There was no second reprieve as Havertz coolly slotted the ball the same way, this time finding the corner of the net.
Chelsea’s spending spree may have ruled them out of the running for Jude Bellingham with the Dortmund midfielder expected to have his choice of Europe’s top clubs this summer.
On his return to England, Bellingham was far from his best and missed a big chance to level the tie when he side-footed wide just before the hour mark.
Chelsea were guilty of trying to protect their advantage in the final quarter and relied on Kepa to bail them out as Wolf stung the palms of the Spaniard.
But they should have still added a third on the counter-attack as Sterling fractionally failed to hold his run before squaring for Conor Gallagher to roll into an empty net.
Benfica 5-1 Club Brugge (Benfica advance 7-1 on aggregate)
Goncalo Ramos struck twice to help Benfica romp to a 5-1 Champions League last-16, second-leg win over Club Brugge on Tuesday in Lisbon and a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Ramos, who shot to global fame during the 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 half-time 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 Scott Parker’s knock-out stage novices.
Benfica have only been beaten twice all season across all competitions and dominated from the outset against the Belgian visitors.
Chiquinho, who has taken Enzo Fernandez’s place in midfield after his Premier League record transfer move to Chelsea in January, returned from injury for the hosts.
Parker picked Ukrainian striker Roman Yaremchuk against his former side, pairing him with Noa Lang to try and spring an unlikely comeback.
Joao Mario, in sparking goalscoring form this season from midfield, netted after just two minutes with a glorious, flicked finish, but the goal was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
The Portugal midfielder was then foiled by Meijer, who hacked his goal-bound effort off the line.
Eventually the hosts took the lead at the Estadio da Luz through Silva after 38 minutes, picked out well in the box by Ramos.
Silva showed good close control to dig out some space and a deft finish to beat former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Ramos steered home the second just before the break after being teed up by Joao Mario.
He netted a brace on Friday against Famalicao to help the Portuguese league leaders maintain an eight-point advantage and was decisive in the box yet again.
Ramos surged inside from the left before firing back across himself into the bottom corner, leaving Mignolet with no chance, notching his 22nd goal of the season across all competitions.
Close behind him on 20 is Joao Mario, enjoying the best goalscoring season of his career by a distance.
The 30-year-old midfielder slashed a volley narrowly off target early in the second half.
Brugge, who have now won just two of their last 17 games, were a surprise package in the group phase and helped eliminate Atletico Madrid, but were picked apart by the Eagles.
Ramos netted his second before the hour mark with a clinical first-time finish from Alex Grimaldo’s low cross.
Then Joao Mario’s coolly taken penalty added sheen to the scoreline after Abakar Sylla clumsily fouled Gilberto.
It was the midfielder’s sixth goal of the tournament, pulling him level with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior as the third top scorer, although five have come from the spot.
Neres slotted home the fifth on a bruising night for Parker and his team, who pulled one back through Meijer, as Benfica proved they will be no pushovers in the next round.
