Maybe this would be the turning level for underneath fireplace Chelsea supervisor Graham Potter.
He went into Tuesday’s recreation towards Borussia Dortmund with questions hanging over his future. Now he has the Champions League quarterfinals to look ahead to.
Kai Havertz’ twice-taken penalty secured a 2-0 win in entrance co-owner Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge to ease the stress on Potter and spark celebrations contained in the stadium not often seen throughout such a troubled marketing campaign.
Chelsea superior 2-1 on combination after having trailed 1-0 from the round-of-16 first leg in Dortmund final month.
?#UCL pic.twitter.com/SauOY4Ry7Q
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 7, 2023
“We have been by way of a tricky interval and this competitors means so much for us,” Potter stated. “We wished to progress and get into the final eight and it units us up for the subsequent few weeks.”
There definitely have been positives for Potter to take from crucial win of his early reign.
Not solely did his workforce present the character to recuperate from shedding the primary leg, it did so by scoring two targets in a recreation for the primary time in 2023.
Benfica routs Brugge, reaches Champions League quarterfinals
Benfica made it look simple once more.
The Portuguese workforce continued its good run with a snug 5-1 win over Club Brugge on Tuesday to seal its spot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the second straight season.
It superior 7-1 on combination following its 2-0 win in the primary leg in Belgium.
Rafa Silva, João Mário and David Neres scored a purpose every, and Gonçalo Ramos discovered the online twice for Benfica, which hadn’t made it to the final eight in consecutive seasons in greater than 5 many years. It was eradicated by eventual runner-up Liverpool final yr.
“The workforce has been working exhausting and issues have been going properly for us,” Silva stated.
Brugge, making its debut in the knockout stage of the Champions League, plunged deeper into disaster underneath coach Scott Parker. The workforce has gained solely twice in 12 matches because the English supervisor took over in December.
AZ Alkmaar rallies to beat Lazio in Europa Conference League
Dutch membership AZ Alkmaar rallied from a purpose down to upset Lazio 2-1 in their Europa Conference League round-of-16 first leg on Tuesday.
Lazio, which beat Serie A frontrunner Napoli final weekend, took the lead in the 18th minute with a strike from former Spain ahead Pedro Rodríguez, taking part in in a face masks after breaking his nostril.
The guests, who’ve misplaced simply one in every of their final 12 video games in all competitions, recovered from a gradual begin and Vangelis Pavlidis netted the equalizer shortly earlier than halftime.
Defender Milos Kerkez scored in the winner in the 62nd minute.
“This was a little bit of a fluke consequence as a result of we created quite a lot of possibilities and conceded from each of theirs,” Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri stated. “The string of missed possibilities tonight is simply too lengthy.”
AZ coach Pascal Jansen added, “I’m not shocked as a result of I do know what my workforce can do.”
The remainder of the matches in the third-tier Europa Conference League will happen on Thursday with the return leg on March 16.
