Borussia Dortmund can continue to dream of the quarter-finals in the Champions League. At home, it recorded a tight and hard-fought victory against Chelsea, which again lacked efficiency. An impressive rush from Adeyemi was enough for Dortmund to move to London in three weeks with a small bonus.
Felix excels, but does not score
A team in top form against a team in free fall. While Dortmund was winning after the turn of the year, the million-dollar transfers yielded very little for Chelsea. Scoring has been a problem for the London club for several weeks, as was also apparent in Dortmund.
Supported by the fanatical supporters, who played a wonderful tifo before kick-off, Dortmund claimed most of the ball possession in the first half. That resulted in a threat, but hardly any opportunities played out. Haller from close range into the side net, Adeyemi from far just over target. It wasn’t much more.
Chelsea was lurking on the counter-attack and was just a little more dangerous. An early goal by Silva was rightly rejected for hands, but thanks to star Felix, the visitors came close to 0-1 twice more. The Portuguese aimed the best chance from close range at the crossbar.
Adeyemi crowns delicious rush
Not a single shot between the posts in the first half, but that changed after the break. Chelsea came out of the dressing room the best and after ten minutes Kobel had to distinguish himself for the first time on a free kick from James. Kepa also suddenly had to go to work, the goalkeeper went flat on a low bang from Brandt.
Chelsea kept pushing the accelerator and Dortmund got more and more difficult. James was allowed to try again, Kobel made another great save. Just when the 0-1 was in the air, Dortmund struck mercilessly on a counter. Adeyemi put Fernandez to the wind with an impressive rush, quickly outplayed goalkeeper Kepa and put the ball in goal in a controlled manner.
In a tense final phase, Koulibaly once again illustrated the scoring problem at Chelsea, although there was also some bad luck involved. Kobel couldn’t clamp his shot, but Can made the save on the line.
Felix was also allowed to take another missed chance and in extra time Kobel turned out to be the hero of Dortmund supporters with a vital save on a beautiful shot from Fernandez.
