UCL: Havertz’s twice-taken penalty sends Chelsea to another quarterfinal

Borussia Dortmund suffered their sixth consecutive away defeat to an English side on Tuesday after Chelsea came from a goal down from the first leg to win 2-0, thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second half.

The victory sent Chelsea through 2-1 on aggregate – a third consecutive quarterfinal in the last three seasons. They delayed the game for 10 minutes as the tension heightened inside the ground with Dortmund supporters setting off yellow smoke bombs.

The Erdin Terzic-led Borussia Dortmund had the better of ball possession, even though just like in the first leg, Chelsea created gilt-edged scoring chances, but just like it was in Germany three weeks ago, they took none of the chances created.

The visitors had to change the fifth minute after Julian Brandt limped off for Giovanni Reyna. Havertz blazed an early effort over the bar while Joao Felix showed too much of the ball to stand-in goalkeeper Alexander Meyer. Kalidou Koulibaly then missed connecting with a tap in from a Chilwell cross.

Kepa Arrizabalaga kept Chelsea in the game when he dived full length to parry a free kick from Dortmund captain Marco Reus in the 17th minute. In the 28th minute, Havertz was unfortunate to see his shot hit the post and go out.

In the 38th minute, Havertz had goal chalked off for an offside on Sterling. It was a marginal call with the English winger just a shoulder ahead of the last Dortmund defender.

When the breakthrough finally came, it took some fortune. An excellent move down the left flank saw Ben Chilwell cross to Sterling, who mis-kicked but regained his balance in time to thump his second effort beyond Meyer.

That was in the 43rd minute and the relief was palpable all over Stamford Bridge, with Todd Boehly in attendance once again. Chilwell, who played in front of Marc Cucurella, was on hand to deny a Dortmund equaliser on the cup of halftime, when he robbed Raphael Guerreiro just as the player was about to shoot.

Four minutes into the second half, Dutch referee Danny Makkelie awarded a penalty after Nico Schlotterbeck handled Chilwell’s cross.

After the VAR check that lasted for five minutes, Kai Havertz, a former Bayer Leverkusen player, took the responsibility. The German missed the first attempt but scored the second kick after VAR penalised Marius Wolf for encroaching on the box.

Five minutes after the hour mark, Arrizabalaga rescued the Blues with another save from a cross from Wolf.

Chelsea would have made it three nil with Sterling’s counterattack, but the assistant referee ruled the Englishman offside in the 76th minute as Bellingham’s header narrowly missed the target with two minutes left on the clock.

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Kepa then relieved the pressure from the hosts after saving Bellingham’s shot in the 93rd minute to send Chelsea through to another Champions League quarterfinal.

Elsewhere, it was an easy ride for Benfica who defeated Club Brugge 5-1 at the Estadio da Luz to go through 7-1 on aggregate.

After the VAR chalked out Joao Mario’s goal in the second minute, Benfica broke the deadlock in the 38th minute through Rafa Silva. Goncalo Ramos doubled the lead for the host in the second minute of added time. Ramos completed his brace in the 57th minute.

The hosts didn’t let up. Joao Mario scored from the spot in the 71st minute before David Neres made it 5-0 six minutes later. The visitors got their consolation goal in the 87th minute through Bjorn Meijer.