Wednesday’s soccer news starts in the Champions League where Christian Pulisic subbed on in the 83rd minute of Chelsea’s 2-0 home win over Borussia Dortmund to advance 2-1 on aggregate in the Champions League round of 16. Gio Reyna subbed on in the 5th minute for Dortmund due to an injury. Raheem Sterling scored for Chelsea in the 43rd with Kai Havertz converting a penalty in the 53rd minute.
“It was a fantastic atmosphere, a fantastic evening,” Chelsea manager Graham Potter said. “The players were tremendous, the supporters were tremendous. It’s a fantastic result on such a big night and I’m just so proud of the players. We played really well and we created a lot of good opportunities. I think over the two games we did enough to win the tie, but we still had to get the job done, which we did.”
Owen Otasowie wasn’t in the squad for Club Brugge, exiting 5-1 on the night at Benfica and 7-1 on aggregate. Club Brugge fell behind in the second-leg in the 38th, with Benfica adding goals in first-half stoppage time, the 57th, converting a 71st minute penalty, and scoring again in the 77th. Club Brugge’s Bjorn Meijer scored in the 87th minute.
“It’s a humbling defeat and a disappointing result,” Club Brugge coach Scott Parker said. “Benfica were clinical, their technical quality extremely high. In this moment it’s a bitter pill to swallow. The team did incredible things to get this far.”
In the Europa Conference League round of 16 first-legs,Djordje Mihailovic subbed on in the 83rd for AZ’s 2-1 win at Lazio. Trailing from the 18th minute, AZ’s Vangelis Pavlidis equalized in the 45th and Milos Kerkez scored in the 62nd.
Daryl Dike’s West Brom shutout Wigan 1-0 at home in the Championship, with Dike scoring in the 27th minute. “For me, it’s important to keep our emotional stability and be strong mentally,” West Brom coach Carlos Corberan said. “We can’t be affected by previous results and we have to be mentally strong to perform well under circumstances that challenge us. It’s a big win for us and we need another one on Saturday here now.”
Duane Holmes wasn’t int he squad for Huddersfield Town’s 0-0 home draw with Bristol City.
Moving to the Concacaf Champions League, Austin FC lost 3-0 at Violette in the opening leg of their round of 16 series. Austin fell behind in the 13th with Violette scoring again in the 39th and an own-goal making it 3-0 in the 47th.
“Really disappointed with the result, the performance to a lot of degree but again I’m going to take responsibility,” Austin coach Josh Wolff said. “I did not get these guys wound up enough to compete and understand what this was going to be about, even as much as we’ve talked about it. But we’ll rebound.”
Also in the Concacaf Champions League, Philadelphia drew 0-0 at Alianza. It was the same score at Estadio Universitario where Orlando City drew 0-0 at Tigres.
THURSDAY’S SOCCER TV
Europa League on TUDN: Sporting vs Arsenal at 12:45pm and Manchester United vs Real Betis at 3pm. Copa Libertadores on beIN Sport: Fortaleza vs Cerro Porteno at 5pm and Huracan vs Sporting Cristal at 7pm. Concacaf Champions League on FS2: Motagua vs Pachuca at 8pm and Alajuelense vs LAFC at 10pm. Copa Sudamericana on beIN Sport: Universitario vs Cienciano at 9pm ET.
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Photo by Imago via ZUMA Press – ISIPhotos.com
