Borussia Dortmund took the lead in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 with a narrow 1-0 win over Chelsea at home at dawn on Thursday (16th). Despite Chelsea's impressive performance, they failed to penetrate the opposing team's goal, but allowed Dortmund to capitalize on a counter-attack, and Aidi Yemi scored the only goal of the game with a long-distance shot, making it four consecutive matches without a win for Chelsea.
Chelsea's overall performance has picked up after the massive winter reinforcements, and this game even had 19 shots on goal, but the shooting efficiency was not optimistic. Zuofelix had hit the post in the first half, and two very threatening shots by Liz Zhanshi were also deflected by the keeper. It was not until the 63rd minute that a Chelsea corner kick attack broke through, with Dortmund striker Aidi Yemi launching a wild ride from the back of the field, outpacing Ansell Fernandes at high speed, and skillfully sending the ball into the empty net, with the whole thing stretching to a length of 70 yards, which is a personalized show. Chelsea came out all guns blazing late in the game, with Anrijane having a successful clearance in the box, before Dortmund held on for a 1-0 win.
Despite failing to win for the fourth consecutive game, Chelsea manager Park Darling was confident in his team, stating, "We have been trying hard to attack but the results have been disappointing but I choose to look at it from a positive point of view, the team's performances have improved and it will take time for the new recruits to integrate into the team, I hope the team will be able to go one step further in three weeks' time, when we welcome Borussia Dortmund to our home stadium. "
In the other Round of 16 first-leg match, Portuguese Superliga powerhouse Benfica beat Bruges 2-0 away from home and return to play at home in the second leg with a good chance of advancing to the last eight.
