UEFA Champions League Magazine - Episode 21
Mar 24Three reasons to watch Chelsea vs Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League - live on BT Sport!
Borussia Dortmund visit London to take on Chelsea in the second leg of their last 16 tie in the Champions League.
Chelsea play host to Borussia Dortmund bidding to overturn a 1-0 deficit and advance to the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Blues are in dire straits in the Premier League, but they beat Leeds on Saturday to ease the pressure on manager Graham Potter.
Can they bounce back in Europe against in-form Dortmund? Or will it be a miserable exit from continental competition for the Chelsea boss?
Here are three reasons to watch Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea, live on BT Sport 1.
Can Potter find salvation in Europe?
Graham Potter's time at Chelsea has been nothing short of a disaster.
With £600m splashed out since Todd Boehly's takeover more was expected of the former Brighton manager since he arrived in September but he's spectacularly failed to deliver at Stamford Bridge.
Potter's had 27 matches in charge of Chelsea, winning just 10, drawing seven and losing 10. It means the Blues are 10th in the table and a huge 11 points behind Tottenham in fourth.
The 1-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund left Potter close to the edge and the 2-0 loss to Tottenham might have pushed him over the precipice but for the win over Leeds.
It means all the pressure will be on Potter to turn the tie come Tuesday night and cancel out the Germans' advantage held by Karim Adeyemi's strike at Signal Iduna Park.
Win and clinch a spot in the quarter-finals and it could be the spark to ignite Chelsea's campaign and ensure Potter is still in the job until the end of the season.
Will Borussia Dortmund's English talent make their mark in London?
Borussia Dortmund have a track record of making the careers of some of Europe's brightest stars, including Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho and the Premier League's top scorer Erling Haaland.
The brightest and most-hyped of the current crop is England midfielder Jude Bellingham who was signed from Championship side Birmingham City as a 17-year-old.
The teenager has developed into one of the best young players and arguably the foremost young midfielder in world football and will likely leave for a fee north of £120m when he does depart Dortmund.
A big performance on Tuesday night will only inflate Bellingham's fee even further but there's another English youngster in Dortmund's ranks whose made his mark recently too.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, a London-born former Chelsea, Reading and Manchester City youth prospect, could feature for Edin Terzic's side and make his second appearance in the Champions League after coming on as a substitute in the first leg.
The 18-year-old winger has netted three times in the Bundesliga this season and would relish the opportunity to grab a goal back in his city of birth with the eyes of the world watching.
Can Chelsea's star signings gel in biggest game of their season?
With Chelsea 11 points off the last remaining Champions League qualification spot, it's safe to say winning this season's competition will be their only means of making it there for 2023/24.
Coupled with their FA Cup exit and it means Chelsea's season will largely come down to what happens on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea's £600million spending spree has brought in a wealth of expensive talent including the January purchases of British-record signing Enzo Fernandez and Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk.
But so far few of the signings have shown their worth and Graham Potter has struggled to get the best out of his bloated, expensive dressing room.
Potter played with Enzo Fernandez alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek against Tottenham but Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher have all featured there in recent weeks too.
Likewise on the wings Mudryk and Noni Madueke were left on the bench at Tottenham with Raheem Sterling and Hakim Ziyech picked.
It's constant rotation for Potter's Chelsea at the moment and all eyes will be on which team he selects for the biggest match of his Blues reign.
