Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Graham Potter's post-match press conference after Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund – a result that has secured the Blues' place in the quarter-finals.
The Blues went into tonight's second leg a goal behind. They needed to produce a strong fightback, and score more than a single goal in a game for the first time since December 27.
Potter's side started well and chances were created. None were taken; a familiar theme in recent weeks. But two minutes before half time, the deadlock was broken. A nice attacking move down the Chelsea left enabled Ben Chilwell to cross and, after first miskicking an effort, Raheem Sterling fired beyond Alexander Meyer.
The goal levelled the tie. Soon after the restart, Chelsea went ahead. A penalty was awarded – after a VAR check – to the Blues and Kai Havertz stepped up. He saw his effort strike the post. It appeared as though the chance was gone but encroachment resulted in the penalty being retaken. Havertz made no mistake the second time around.
Dortmund applied plenty of pressure in response and Chelsea dropped deeper and deeper as the half progressed. Yet Chelsea managed to survive and secure their place in the last eight of the Champions League.
We are in position to get the full post-match reaction from Graham Potter. Live updates will appear below.
That's all from the Chelsea head coach. We'll have a full transcript online soon
Inevitably, in life, you're going to have bad times and good times. I don't see any other way to look at it. It's how you react to the bad times, get some perspective and analyse it in the correct way. Things are never bad forever but it felt like that sometimes!
They're two different competitions. Sometimes you're playing every four days and the reality was, certainly in the Autumn, was continuous injuries to stop us being really stable. That probably affected our Premier League form. All those things have made it a tough period. We're delighted to be in the last eight.
I think the supporters have been really fair with us. Supporters care, so when the results aren't what they want, they feel pain. They need to articulate that pain somehow, to get rid of it. They've been really supportive, they really have. They've stuck with the team and helped us on the pitch. You always need a bit of luck. I would say before the World Cup, we had nine players out. If you have all these players out, and tonight they had some players missing and that goes in our favour. I'm not going to complain about that at all.
It's not just this evening. We've had a tough period. We had to respond against Leeds. We played a good game against Dortmund away but we lost. We had a poor first-half against Southampton and then it can quickly spiral into another unpleasant situation. We've had to stick together and the players have done that.
It's an important game, it's a special atmosphere. It's a passionate evening. Both sets of supporters contributed to that. Stamford Bridge was rocking and our performance helped that.
I think he got Man of the Match, didn't he? I'm delighted for him. When you're having a bad time like we have, you accept the criticism. Marc has dealt with it well. We've tried to shield him a bit and pick the moment. With Benoit not available, he gave us the left foot and balance in a back-three and thankfully he delivered a top performance.
To win a game and go into the last eight of the Champions League, it's up there with one of the games or evenings of my career. I watched the first penalty and it didn't work so well. I can't do anything. It's down to Kai and his talent and testament and that's at the top level.
Yeah I have. He's still here.
I don't think about it in that way. There's always going to be that sort of noise. Our job is to support the players because they've been suffering. Nobody has enjoyed the run we've had.
Really pleased. Fantastic atmosphere, fantastic evening. The players and supporters were tremendous. We had to be against a team that have 10 wins on the bounce. It was a special night.
Here we go!
If a decision takes about five or six minutes, then you know it's not easy to make the call. I'm responsible for our performance but not for the performance of the referee.
I don't know what I was thinking [when it hit the post] but the referee let me retake the penalty. I was a bit nervous but I scored. I tried to wait and look at the keeper and the second one was a bit easier. The last two weeks were hard, we lost a lot of games.
Tonight was important this is a big tournament and it's the last trophy that we can win. Tonight was important this is a big tournament and it's the last trophy that we can win.
It was a massive performance. We had to dig deep. We took our chances. We felt as a team we could do it. I had a little mis-kick with the first touch but it landed perfectly and allowed us to build on that for our performance.
I thought about taking it the second time [the penalty] but I was so confident in Kai to put it in the back of the net.
Wow. What a Champions League tie that was!
Some top performers for Chelsea this evening. Those who have been criticised heavily in recent weeks really showed up tonight when it mattered most.
football.london's Chelsea writer Bobby Vincent rated each of the players from this evening's win – and you can read them here.
No quick clap to those in the stands and down the tunnel tonight from Graham Potter.
He punches the air and spends a good few seconds applauding those in the Matthew Harding Lower.
He enjoyed that one.
Chelsea are through to the Champions League quarter-finals!
A big night at Stamford Bridge. Potentially a big night for Graham Potter's tenure, too.
We are in position at Stamford Bridge to get the full post-match thoughts of the Chelsea head caoch.