Chelsea 2 Borussia Dortmund 0 (2 - 1 on aggregate)

[RDCW]

Utterly bizarre to give Kepa the armband when Kova came off, but he di play well tonight.

[Phoenix Blue]

These are the nights you really wished you were in the ground with your mates. Watching on TV so far away is the hardest thing for me anyway because the stress and anxiety is just too much for my old heart and blood pressure.

I was in the stadium in Moscow that night and even though we lost with JT slipping with his penalty, being with fans I had met when I arrived in Moscow from Phoenix, AZ early that morning, then drank with nearly all day until the game started made the unbearable bearable after the match ended.

For me this is a very special night for the fans, a night where we should all praise the gaffer and the players for the way they did it.

Just remarkable!!!

[Bob Singleton]

I had Kai as MotM, but the official UEFA Mann of the Match was...

[CarefreeMuratcan]

6 minutes ago, Bob Singleton said:

I had Kai as MotM, but the official UEFA Mann of the Match was...

He was immense tonight. 

[Blue Moon]

Now I understand your avatar (or whatever it’s called) Bob.  Puzzled.  I’d have been torn between Kai and Chilly, but Cucu? How do they justify that?

[Miguelito07]

11 minutes ago, RDCW said:

Utterly bizarre to give Kepa the armband when Kova came off, but he di play well tonight.

Happened on the Leeds match too

[Bob Singleton]

12 minutes ago, Blue Moon said:

Now I understand your avatar (or whatever it’s called) Bob.  Puzzled.  I’d have been torn between Kai and Chilly, but Cucu? How do they justify that?

It's actually "pensive" not puzzled 😉

As for Cucurella, as @CarefreeMuratcan said, he was immense, as were several others. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time, cutting out opposition passes, getting his foot in to nick the ball, etc.  But I still think Kai edged it.

[Blue Moon]

You be pensive if you wish, @Bob Singleton, I remain puzzled! 

[ShedMiddle]

Chelsea's here Chelsea's there Chelsea's every effing where

[jasonb]

55 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Potter looked good in the pre-match press conference and even better on the pitch.

Congrats to him, the lads and the fans.

Let's take one game at a time now but we deserve to celebrate.

I thought Dortmund were really poor, but we were pretty good and no complaints.

Too many giveaways first half was a worry and we needed to control first part of the game better.

But we looked great in both boxes - Kai MOTM and Raheem close second for me.

Credit to Fofana too - he's doing amazing. Koulibaly finally looking the part as well as Cucurella.

And finally we have a formation that suits our wing-backs! Surely we have to stick with the back five.

I also think when our WBs are fit a back five is best, the problem with a four is part from Enzo we have no decent defensive midfielder so we are more expose defensively. Rice might address this if we decide to address that over the summer.

Kai looks good and I think Fofana has improved the dressing room spirit.

 

[NoblyBobly]

1 hour ago, Holymoly said:

Written in the stars mate ⚽⭐⚽

As long as Gary Neville co- commentates in the final I will be more than happy 

……oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohh!

[NoblyBobly]

Something I have noticed from these players is a desire to do well and real joy when they finally  do. This is crucial that Potter hasn’t lost the dressing room and I don’t believe he has. We can get it wrong tactically , have bad luck, miss open goals but as long as we still have spirit. Both in the Leeds game and this one, the winning really really mattered. Every player was grinning from ear to ear.  This season is not dead yet. 
Well  done GP . Well done Chelsea. Feels good. 

[NoblyBobly]

1 hour ago, Original 21 said:

A word for Kepa. Made a couple of important saves and looked very assured. Even took a yellow card for wasting time. Good man. 

The time wasting annoyed me because the ref probably added on a minute for those few seconds. Apart from that he was faultless. 

[chara]

2 hours ago, martin1905 said:

Penalty?

I thought we got very, very lucky but not seen a replay.

Nailed on for me ...the defender was very clever and nearly got away with it....turned away as if unsighted but left hand there....for once var, or rewind, got it right and yep would have been p'eed off it had been at the other end but that doesn't make it a wrong decision.

[ShedMiddle]

1 hour ago, Phoenix Blue said:

These are the nights you really wished you were in the ground with your mates. Watching on TV so far away is the hardest thing for me anyway because the stress and anxiety is just too much for my old heart and blood pressure.

I was in the stadium in Moscow that night and even though we lost with JT slipping with his penalty, being with fans I had met when I arrived in Moscow from Phoenix, AZ early that morning, then drank with nearly all day until the game started made the unbearable bearable after the match ended.

For me this is a very special night for the fans, a night where we should all praise the gaffer and the players for the way they did it.

Just remarkable!!!

Tbh didn't expect anything other than the win, even on current form. We have the squad to beat anyone, I hope that can be realised! 

[xceleryx]

Get in, what a brilliant win and gutsy performance overall.

Absolutely thrilled for both Koulibaly and Cucurella in particular, both have come in for heavy criticism this season but showcased that do have the quality and ability to be good players for us moving forward. Also having Chilwell ahead of Cucurella makes a WORLD of difference when the latter is playing LCB. 

Props to Havertz also for also having a really solid performance himself and stepping up to re-take that penalty, not an easy thing to do given his general form and missing earlier. 

Also credit to Potter for showing a bit on the sidelines to get the crowd involved. Don't necessarily agree with some of the subs he made but overall he set us up well and got the result we needed. 

Kovavic also put in a real captain-like shift in the middle. 

Best performance the season and hopefully something we can build upon further to round the campaign out.

[Ham]

Love these two 😂

 

 

[chara]

4 hours ago, chara said:

Sorry Bob...I thought both lots were...must have miseen it.

@Bob Singleton

I Retract that BobS...just watching the replay and both sets of mascots wearing the same shirts.

Not sure what they are but.......

[CarefreeMuratcan]

Just woke up and wanted to say: WE ARE IN THE LAST 8 WE ARE IN THE DRAW!!!

[My Blood Is Blue]

This could well be the turning point we’ve all been craving. Early days, but that wasn’t just ‘a win’, but that was a proper performance as well, not just in terms of quality, but to see the players dig in like they did to see the result through, I think, is a great sign.

I’m not saying Potter is the man for us, but in my eyes, he’s got himself some more time after tonight. The most important game now, is the next game, the players HAVE to keep up this level of performance for the weekend and if they do, then we can move away from any relegation threat and you never know, we could even put on a run for a Europa spot… but, a long way to go and we’re only one bad performance away from the pain and suffering again.

So happy about last night though, we’ve had almost nothing to cheer this season, so that felt really good. I will have a skip in my step today and a grin on my face, because we are the Chelsea and we ARE the best…

[My Blood Is Blue]

1 minute ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

Just woke up and wanted to say: WE ARE IN THE LAST 8 WE ARE IN THE DRAW!!!

Let’s hope the draw is kind to us, because you just never know… as others have said. 8( would be very Chelsea of us to now go all the way!

[CarefreeMuratcan]

1 minute ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Let’s hope the draw is kind to us, because you just never know… as others have said. 8( would be very Chelsea of us to now go all the way!

Indeed a lot of kind possibilities this year if we can get lucky enough. Porto/Inter look average whoever gets through of those 2. Same with Spurs/Milan. Benfica as good as they have been, are still a kind draw, their last 2 CL opponents have been weak teams despite all the hype around their goal scoring prowess. 

The challenging ones are Napoli, Munich/PSG, Madrid and City. Although I wouldn't mind watching this Napoli team at the Bridge to be honest. 

On top of that if we can get the 2nd leg at home, park the bus away, we can beat anyone with our Blue Wall at the Bridge. 

[Thiago97]

I think one of the other things I took from the game and performance last night. I’m not sure how the stats ended up, but we spent decent parts of the game with less possession and how we look better for it.

Counter attack teams who rely on counter attack can be very one dimensional. We don’t play on counter attack enough though. Those periods when  our possessions was between 40%—45% we looked well organised and in control, whilst having that threat on the counter.

We carried more of a threat than the endless 55% possession going nowhere. I hope Potter sees this and realises we don’t need to just dominate possession to win games. 

[Mark Kelly]

Very pleased we're through but even more pleased Potter realised that having two excellent wing backs and playing both of them together is a good idea .

If as reported the players like him and he kicks on from here and starts picking up the points and we play as well as we can , the World is his Lobster.

[Holymoly]

 I have to admit that I couldn't watch this game live. Just couldn't put myself through it. Just watched it now though and while we played well and Havertz and Cucurella redeemed themselves to a degree you would have to accept that Dortmund were underwhelming. They seemed overawed by the occasion, maybe that's down to the supporters who were immense for a change. It is the first time in a long time that I've seen the cameras shake quite so much on the gantries when a goal is scored. The Dortmund support tried to carry it at the start of the game but in the end they had been shut up.

While we played well we still needed two bites of the cherry for both goals. We need to be more clinical in front of goal when the opportunities present themselves. The penalty was harsh although par for the course in Europe. If it had been awarded against us we would have been crying UEFA conspiracy (maybe we're not big enough this season to warrant being conspired against). When Havertz missed and the penalty was retaken I was amazed. When they cited encroachment I assumed it was their GK and thought no way, Todd's slipped UEFA a brown envelope to ensure we go through. Then I saw it over and the players were almost level with the penalty spot when the ball was kicked. Fair enough. Kai though mate, quit with the Jorginho theatrics. Just kick the damn ball next time.

What pleased me most though was that we played over half an hour with the lead and didn't relinquish it. The defensive subs didn't appear until late in the game. We're beginning to look like a team and what an improvement when Havertz isn't a passenger.

We're beginning to see a more settled side now which is good but I think it bodes ill for Mount to still be here next season.

Well done the Chels, and big up to you supporters who were man enough to watch it live.