Top Winners and Losers After Tuesday's Champions League Round of 16 Leg 2 Results
One game had drama. The other had one-sided fireworks. The Champions League never disappoints.
Chelsea moved on to the UCL quarterfinals with a 2-0 win and a 2-1 advantage on aggregate, while Benfica smoked Club Brugge 5-1 to move on 7-1 in aggregate.
Below, we'll break down the afternoon's winners and losers.
Winner: Graham Potter
Boy, did Graham Potter need this one.
We're now a week into March, and coming into Tuesday's match Chelsea had won just two matches this calendar year, despite spending an obscene amount of money on the roster between the summer and January windows. The buck always stops somewhere, and the narrative coming into Chelsea's second leg against Dortmund was that the manager was potentially facing a do-or-die match.
With the Blues overcoming a 1-0 deficit in aggregate, it looks as though the manager will live to see another day.
This was a great win on a number of fronts. Chelsea's attack was dynamic. The Blues overcame a Dortmund side that had won 10 straight matches. The defense was stout and Kepa Arrizabalaga was fantastic in goal.
But Potter was the main winner for Chelsea. Nobody needed this win worse than the embattled Chelsea manager.
Loser: Dortmund's Penalty Luck
The defining moment in this game came in the 48th minute, when VAR controversially awarded Chelsea a penalty for a handball in the box. Kai Havertz then missed the ensuing attempt, but because Dortmund had players in the box before the kick was taken, he was given a reprieve and converted his second attempt.
The penalty decision was debatable. The retake on the penalty itself was the correct call, even if the rule itself is questionable. But there was little doubting that for Dortmund, it was just a moment of tough luck.
Aggrieved or not, Dortmund had plenty of time to equalize and were unable to do so. It was the key moment in the game, no doubt, but hardly the only moment that decided the outcome.
Winner: Gonรงalo Ramos
Benfica absolutely cruised on Tuesday, and Gonรงalo Ramos led the charge, notching an impressive brace.
Benfica didn't even need his brace to advance comfortably. But it sure was pretty nonetheless.
Loser: Dortmund's Defense
Chelsea were on the front foot for much of this game, and while the penalty controversy will be the talking point, it was Dortmund's defensive effort that ultimately let them down.
It's hard to find a much scrappier goal, or sloppier defending, than on Raheem Sterling's opener:
This was not the finest hour for Dortmund's defense. It's a sentence that Dortmund fans have uttered before in flabbergasted despair.
