Under-fire Potter survives as Chelsea through to QF thanks to ‘worst rule in football’

Chelsea kept their season alive by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League 2-1 on aggregate on Tuesday.

Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz, with a twice-taken penalty, got the goals as the Blues relieved the pressure on manager Graham Potter.

The Englishman’s job was on the line after a season that has so far failed to deliver any return on a world-record injection of over $600m in one season on new signings.

Chelsea had won just three of their previous 16 matches to fall to 10th in the Premier League and bow out early of both domestic cups.

But some of their expensive collection of stars showed up in time to remain in the hunt for a third European Cup.

Kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes after Dortmund got stuck in the heavy London traffic on arrival to the stadium.

Once the action got underway, Chelsea sped out of the blocks. Alexander Meyer had to fly off his line to block from Joao Felix from a narrow angle before Havertz fired a big chance into the side netting.

Dortmund arrived in England on the back of a 10-game winning run in all competitions.

But the visitors posed barely any attacking threat in the first half bar a Marco Reus free-kick that Kepa Arrizabalaga did brilliantly to palm to safety.

Chances continued to come and go at the other end. Havertz smashed a volley off the inside of the post and then finally found the net via the underside of the bar only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside against Sterling earlier in the move.

The worst miss was to come as Kalidou Koulibaly miscued with an open goal from Ben Chilwell’s free-kick and Felix’s follow-up effort was blocked on the line.

Potter was uncharacteristically animated on the touchline as he constantly whipped the crowd up to keep pushing his side forward.

And the home fans finally had something to celebrate three minutes before half-time.

Sterling’s first attempt was another one to forget as he swiped and missed Chilwell’s low cross, but the England international composed himself to dribble past Reus and fire high into the net.

That was just Chelsea’s third goal in the last eight games.

Havertz’s penalty early in the second half meant Potter’s men scored more than once for the first time since December 27, but the German international needed two spot-kicks to make his mark.

Marius Wolf was penalised for handling Chilwell’s cross after a VAR review. Havertz’s first penalty came back off the post, but VAR came to Chelsea’s rescue once more as Dortmund were further punished for encroaching.

There was no second reprieve as Havertz coolly slotted the ball the same way, this time finding the corner of the net.

The football community was left fuming at one of the more polarising rules in the game.

The Athletic’s Adam Crafton branded it the “worst rule in football,” while ABC Sport’s Daniel Garb wrote the whole farce was “incredibly harsh” on Dortmund.

Chelsea were guilty of trying to protect their advantage in the final quarter and relied on Kepa to bail them out as Wolf stung the palms of the Spaniard.

But they should have still added a third on the counter-attack as Sterling again failed to hold his run before squaring for Conor Gallagher to roll into an empty net.

Benfica batter hapless Brugge

Goncalo Ramos struck twice to help Benfica romp to a 5-1 Champions League last 16, second leg win over Club Brugge on Tuesday in Lisbon and a 7-1 aggregate victory.

Ramos, who shot to global fame during the World Cup when he was selected ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal and netted a hat-trick against Switzerland, set up the opener for Rafa Silva.

The 21-year-old forward then produced two clinical finishes either side of half-time to ensure the two-time European Cup winners would reach the quarter-finals in consecutive seasons.

Joao Mario struck from the spot to score in his fifth consecutive Champions League match -- Portugal great Eusebio was the last player to manage the feat for the club.

David Neres added the fifth for Benfica before Bjorn Meijer netted a spectacular late consolation.

Benfica have only been beaten twice all season across all competitions and dominated from the outset against the Belgian visitors.

The hosts took the lead at the Estadio da Luz through Silva after 38 minutes, picked out well in the box by Ramos.

Silva showed good close control to dig out some space and a deft finish to beat former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Ramos steered home the second just before the break after being teed up by Joao Mario.

Ramos surged inside from the left before firing back across himself into the bottom corner, leaving Mignolet with no chance, notching his 22nd goal of the season across all competitions.

Ramos netted his second before the hour mark with a clinical first-time finish from Alex Grimaldo’s low cross.

Then Joao Mario’s coolly taken penalty added sheen to the scoreline after Abakar Sylla clumsily fouled Gilberto.

Neres slotted home the fifth on a bruising night for Parker and his team, who pulled one back through Meijer, as Benfica proved they will be no pushovers in the next round.