Chelsea beat Borussia Dortmund at Stamford Bridge 2-0 on Tuesday to book their place in the Champions League quarterfinals and ease the mounting pressure on head coach Graham Potter. Needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Germany three weeks ago, Chelsea made a fast start but had to wait until Raheem Sterling's 43rd-minute strike to break the deadlock.
Kai Havertz sealed a 2-1 aggregate win by converting a 53rd-minute penalty at the second attempt. The spot kick was awarded after referee Danny Makkelle was sent to the monitor by VAR official Pol Van Boekel to review a handball by Marius Wolf. Havertz's first effort struck the post, but VAR revealed encroachment into the box by multiple Dortmund players, and Havertz slotted home the retake.
The sheer scale of recent investment poured into the club by ownership -- around £600m all told -- demands a better immediate return than the Blues have managed of late. An early Champions League exit would have strengthened Potter's critics in arguing the job might be too big for the 47-year-old to handle.
The prospect of a Champions League quarterfinal next month will give Potter a tangible achievement to point to if the domestic stutters continue. But he will be hoping back-to-back wins for the first time since October will prove to be a long-awaited turning point.
Remarkably, this was the first time since Dec. 27 that Chelsea had scored more than once in a game. It was precisely what they needed to do to qualify, but encouraging performances from Joao Felix and Havertz in particular should help Chelsea banish what had surely, at least in part, become a psychological issue in front of goal.