Chelsea v Borussia Dortmund: Champions League last 16, second leg – live | Champions League
Key events
A cheery Graham Potter speaks to BT Sport. “It’s nice to have the win after the weekend … it felt like a good performance against Dortmund … we should have scored maybe but that’s where we’re at … we’re looking forward to playing well and hopefully going through … the most important thing is the team, the club, so my job is to help the team win … it’s not about me … we’ve got Reece [James] back tonight so that’s a plus … we lost Wesley Fofana in the home game here against Milan, and almost systematically since then have had players dropping out, so it’s been difficult to get stability … then you need a couple of games to get back to your top level when you get back, so that’s been a process we’ve had to endure … the spirit has been really good despite results … we want results to improve … we’re very privileged and grateful to be here … we can turn it round and we have to be positive.”
Chelsea make four changes to the starting XI named for the first leg in Dortmund. Mateo Kovačić, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana are in; Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mykhailo Mudryk and Hakim Ziyech drop to the bench, while Thiago Silva is injured.
Dortmund make two changes to the team that started in Germany. Alexander Meyer replaces Gregor Kobel in goal, while captain Marco Reus returns at the expense of first-leg goalscoring hero Karim Adeyemi, who is injured. Jude Bellingham stars alongside former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can, while erstwhile West Ham striker Sebastien Haller leads the line.
The teams
Chelsea: Kepa, James, Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Chilwell, Kovacic, Fernandez, Sterling, Havertz, Felix.
Subs: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Mudryk, Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Hall.
Borussia Dortmund: Meyer, Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro, Can, Ozcan, Bellingham, Brandt, Reus, Haller.
Subs: Kobel, Unbehaun, Reyna, Dahoud, Hummels, Modeste, Malen, Meunier, Passlack, Rothe, Bynoe-Gittens, Coulibaly.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands).
Preamble
Three weeks ago this happened …
… and now Chelsea are fighting for their Champions League lives. Tonight’s game may even have a bearing on whether the club stay patient with Graham Potter, though perhaps that’s getting a bit melodramatic. Either way, a positive result shouldn’t be beyond Chelsea, who were impressive in the first leg despite defeat. Can the 2012 and 2021 champions make it through to this year’s quarters? Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!