CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: CUCURELLA WINS PLAYER OF THE MATCH AFTER CHELSEA 2-0 DEFEAT OF DORTMUND

Marc Cucurella produced a brilliant display in Chelsea 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund in Champions League Tuesday night with the London club advancing to the quarter final.

The Spaniard who had a top performance rating in the match was a surprise start for Graham Potters led Blues. He has missed three consecutive Premier League matches but his revitalised cohesion and quick passes when in possession of the ball was quite significant at Stamford Bridge Tuesday night. That earned him Player of the Match Award, that! Chelsea keep their hope alive in Europe.

The game started with Chelsea making early aggressive attacking play and Kai Havertz looked impressive but failed to convert early opportunities into goals. Same can be said of England international Raheem Sterling.

But Sterling restored confidence to score in the 43^rd minute after good effort brushing off a defender in the box. In the first before the goal Dortmund played matured tactics marking every offensive play Chelsea employed, especially in midfield working to contain Enzo, Kovacic and Chilwell who often joins the middle from the wing flag.

The half ended with Chelsea 1-0 up and praises from the coach will go to the home fans at the London Stadium for lighting up the arena with support

On resumption of the second half Dortmund showed some impact creating space to close up the gap, although the match was at equal level having won at home in Germany 1-0 in the first leg. Descriptively the absence of Thiago Silva who is down with injury wasn’t really felt as Senegalese international Kalidou Koulibaly showed signs of understanding with Wesley Fofana.

Fofana’s signs of confidence ushered Koulibaly sometimes to go forward for a header.

The spark of effort pad off as Kai Havertz scored from the penalty spot to redeem his confidence having struggled with just a goal in the last 12 previous matches.

The 23 year-old had missed the first take of the penalty but thanks to the observation the goalkeeper had stepped off the line before the kick. On reward for a retake, he calmly converted the spot kick and a well- deserved reward for good performance.

Although, he later wasted a powerful effort from the edge of the box which whistled offside. His performance in the night overshadowed that as he had five attempt shots and created a further two chances for his team mates a notch added in total Chelsea had 13 shots on goal. The German would have had more goals on the night if he was ruthless.

Chelsea went on to advance to the quarter final at the final whistle from the referee which applause for the night performance will go to the players, especially James, Chilwell,  Fofana and Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella who won the man of the match.   

Meanwhile, in his press conference Chelsea coach Graham Potter praised Marc Cucrella for stellar performance coming back from the fans criticism to play fantastic well.

“Macc has dealt with it well. We’ve tried to shield him a little bit and at the same time pick the moment. I thought tonight, regardless of the situation, the crowd were going to get behind us because it was the Champions League.”

Obviously and thankfully the players delivered the night and Graham Potter could have some relief from the pressure after past weeks of a string of poor results which some of mosesthe club fans haven’t been happy with their performance..