CHELSEA REACHES CL QUARTERS
Maybe this will be the turning point for under fire Chelsea manager Graham Potter.
He went into Tuesday's game against Borussia Dortmund with questions hanging over his future. Now he has the Champions League quarterfinals to look forward to.
Kai Havertz's twice-taken penalty secured a 2-0 win in front co-owner Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge to ease the pressure on Potter and spark celebrations inside the stadium rarely seen during such a troubled campaign.
Chelsea advanced 2-1 on aggregate after having trailed 1-0 from the roundof-16 first leg in Dortmund last month.
“We have been through a tough period and this competition means a lot for us,” Potter said. “We wanted to progress and get into the last eight and it sets us up for the next few weeks.”
There certainly were positives for Potter to take from the most important win of his early reign.
Not only did his team show the character to recover from losing the first leg, it did so by scoring two goals in a game for the first time in 2023.
Following Saturday's 1-0 win against Leeds, this is the first time Chelsea has recorded back-to-back victories since October.
American midfielder Christian Pulisic returned from a two-month injury layoff, entering in the 83rd minute of Chelsea's victory . The 24-year-old had not played since injuring his right knee during a tackle by Manchester City defender John Stones in a Premier League match on Jan. 5. American midfielder Gio Reyna entered in the fifth minute for Dortmund after Julian Brandt was injured.
Benfica 5, Club Brugge 1:
Benfica continued its good run with a comfortable 5-1 win over Club Brugge to seal its spot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the second straight season. The Portuguese team advanced 7-1 on aggregate following its 2-0 win in the first leg in Belgium. Rafa Silva, João Mário and David Neres, scored a goal each. Gonçalo Ramos found the net twice.
Notable
Brazil's sports ministry says the South American nation will bid to host the 2027 Women's World Cup.
• French club Angers says coach Abdel Bouhazama has resigned after making sexist comments. Bouhazama reportedly made inappropriate comments while addressing the situation of a player accused of unwanted sexual touching.
• The Spanish newspaper El Pais says prosecutors will accuse soccer club Barcelona of corruption because of its payments to the vice president of the refereeing committee. Prosecutors did not immediately confirm the accusations and said nothing had been filed yet.
UEFA will refund Liverpool fans who bought tickets for last season's Champions League final because of the chaos that occurred outside the stadium in Paris.