(Football news) High spending Chelsea were left embarrassed after losing 1-0 to Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park in their Champions League round of 16 tie despite dominating the fixture. Thiago Silva had a goal disallowed for handball while Joao Felix hit the bar as the Blues’ inability to take chances cost them dearly when Karim Adeyemi found the back of the net in the 63rd minute. Chelsea pushed hard for an equaliser following the opening goal as Kalidou Koulibaly had a shot cleared by Emre Can. The Blues now have their work cut out for them in the second leg fixture at Stamford Bridge.
The result means that Chelsea have now won only one game in nine matches since the start of 2023. In team news, Graham Potter made three changes from the team that featured against West Ham with Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell coming in for Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and Marc Cucurella. Speaking after the match to BT Sport, Potter said “The boys have been fantastic in terms of their work, but at the moment, we’re suffering in terms of results. But the performance was a big step forward for us tonight. It’s half-time. We need to regroup and take the game at Stamford Bridge.”
In the post match press conference, Chelsea manager Graham Potter said “Overall, we were pleased with the performance for big parts of the game. It is complicated away from home in the Champions League, a hostile environment against a team in a good moment. In the second half, apart from one decisive action where we don’t do well enough, I thought we were the better team. Sometimes you can feel comfortable in a game but you are never comfortable at this level.
“It is a poor goal. We have to do better, we were pushing at the time, the better team. So to concede in that manner, we are all disappointed. The players are honest, they can do better. We have to help them with that. But we have to focus on the positives. The attitude has been really good as a group. The spirit is there in the team. We just need a bit more luck, carry on the performance level and keep improving. Hopefully, we can improve and take the game to them at Stamford Bridge.”
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