Chelsea welcome Borussia Dortmund to Stamford Bridge looking to overturn the one goal first-leg deficit in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie.
Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi scored the only goal of the first leg which was also the first time the pair had ever done battle. It gave the Germans a huge advantage ahead of tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues managed to beat Leeds on the weekend so they will start with some confidence after a stormy period in their season.
Dortmund are in the last 16 for the eighth time in 11 seasons, while this is Chelsea’s eighth successive Champions League campaign to have made it into the knockout rounds.
Chelsea’s 2021/22 campaign was ended in the quarter-finals by Real Madrid. Having finished second in Group H behind Juventus, the Blues bowed out in the last eight against the eventual winners (1-3 h, 3-2 a aet) having let slip a three-goal lead in the second leg.
This season, the Blues opened with a 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb, a result that prompted the departure of Thomas Tuchel.
The first leg of this tie was only Chelsea’s seventh defeat in their last 37 Uefa Champions League matches (W23 D7).
Chelsea have won ten of their last 18 European matches at Stamford Bridge (D5 L3), last season’s reverse against Madrid ending a run of six straight victories, all with clean sheets.
The Blues have drawn blanks in ten of their last 15 matches, scoring just six times across the other five outings. That said, Graham Potter’s charges are playing some eye-catching football and they seem to be on the cusp of translating their fluid build-up into goals.
“I thought we were the dominant team in the second half and we created a lot of chances. It is halftime in the tie and we have to regroup,” said Potter after the first leg. “We are a team in progress, we know there are a lot of positive things there. You always need a bit of luck but you can’t wait around for luck, you have to keep working.”
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