Chelsea qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals as they beat Borussia Dortmund on a “special night”
Chelsea boss Graham Potter hailed the Stamford Bridge atmosphere on a “special night” where they managed to defeat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.
Potter’s men were quite unlucky in the first leg against Dortmund where they lost 1-0. Chelsea created a bag full of chances at Signal Iduna Park but BVB goalkeeper Kobel made history as he saved a record 7 chances.
But luck was definitely on Chelsea’s side in the second leg as Sterling and Havertz scored to make it 2-0 for Chelsea (2-1 on aggregate). although things were nervy as Havertz, who scored from the spot, missed his penalty the first time, only for VAR to make him retake it.
Potter delighted with Cucurella performance
“Really pleased. Fantastic atmosphere, fantastic evening,” Potter said at his post-match press conference. “The players and supporters were tremendous. We had to be against a team that have 10 wins on the bounce. It was a special night.”
Marc Cucurella, who has been criticized by pundits and fans a lot this season, put up a great performance. Graham Potter was delighted for the Spaniard.
“I think he got man of the match, didn’t he?” Potter asked. “I’m delighted for him. When you’re having a bad time like we have, you accept the criticism. Marc has dealt with it well. We’ve tried to shield him a bit and pick the moment. With Benoit not available, he gave us the left foot and balance in a back-three and thankfully he delivered a top performance.”
This was the first time Chelsea got consecutive wins since October. Graham Potter went on to address the criticism that was directed at him and the fan reaction.
“I think the supporters have been really fair with us,”
“I think the supporters have been really fair with us,” he said. “Supporters care, so when the results aren’t what they want, they feel pain. They need to articulate that pain somehow, to get rid of it.
“They’ve been really supportive, they really have. They’ve stuck with the team and helped us on the pitch. You always need a bit of luck. I would say before the World Cup, we had nine players out. If you have all these players out, and tonight [Dortmund] had some players missing and that goes in our favor. I’m not going to complain about that at all.”
He later added: “Inevitably, in life, you’re going to have bad times and good times. I don’t see any other way to look at it. It’s how you react to the bad times, get some perspective and analyze it in the correct way. Things are never bad forever but it felt like that sometimes.”
