Never trust a German team, even if you have it groggy on the ropes. It is the moral that Graham Potter and Chelsea had to take from the visit to Dortmund, where they came out with a minimal defeat (1-0) that gives them hope for the round of 16 second leg at Stamford Bridge. A stingy result for the electric duel between two greats that took place at Signal Iduna Park.
With nothing left to do in British competitions – apart from the two Cups and 10th in the Premier, 20 points behind Arsenal - Chelsea, European champion two years ago, seeks solace in their continental forays. They led their group with authority in the first phase (against Milan, Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb), but they ran into a bone in the draw like Borussia Dortmund (3rd in the Bundesliga, 3 points behind Bayern ), who had 7 victories in a row.
To top it off, the blues couldn't find a worse time to visit Signal Iduna Park, since despite having strengthened in the winter market –Mudryk (100 million), Joao Félix (on loan), Badiashile (38 million) and Madueke (35 million), Malo Gusto (30 million), Fofana (12 million) - they still do not know how to take advantage of such an arsenal of names: they have drawn three times in a row and have only been able to win one game out of the 8 they have played in 2023. A disaster for the millionaire outlay of its American owner.
Urged by emergencies, Chelsea pressed high, making it difficult for Dortmund to play the ball out, and started good approaches with the weapon of speed. He got ahead (m.16), but Thiago Silva did it with his hand in a corner, an action that cost him a yellow card that Gil Manzano showed him.
Dortmund replied with greater control of the game, although the danger of their ten arrivals was limited to a brilliant counter led by Brandt that Haller finished off with anger at the side of the net (m.27).
The poison was put by Chelsea in the cons of vertigo. In two of them, the clearest, Joao Félix had the goal in his boots. In the first he sent a perfect ball to the clouds to score the 0-1 that the Moroccan Ziyech served him at 31 minutes. And at 37, in another arrival in the race, assisted by Harvetz, the Portuguese culminated the great play with a shot against the crossbar after leaving Wolf behind. Due to danger, Chelsea deserved the goal more, which did not speculate.
Before the break, Dortmund showed their offensive capacity with a gallop from Brandt and a long-distance shot from Wolf that skimmed the left post of Kepa Arrizabalaga's goal.
In the restart, Chelsea insisted more looking for the goal. James had two good chances, one in a free-kick (m.55) that Kobel took in a feline manner, and another in a shot from a corner kick (m.63) that the goalkeeper saved with another prodigious hand.
From the possible 0-1 that Chelsea was chewing, it went to 1-0 in the same scene, in a masterful gallop by Adeyemi. In a corner served by the London team, he set up one against the Munich winger, who at the speed of a gazelle left behind Enzo Fernández, who had remained as closing man, with a free pass, and broke Kepa at the start to score against empty goal. A superb goal that put the Germans ahead (m. 63).
Chelsea burned the last ships and turned on the German goal to touch the tie twice. It was avoided by Emre Can on the goal line in a shot from Koulibaly that Kobel spat out (78) and again the goalkeeper flew in a save from a shot by Enzo (94).
In Bruges, Benfica got the tie on track against the Belgians with a 0-2 draw, with goals from João Mario (from a penalty, m. 51), and David Neres (m. 88).
