There were stellar performances all over the pitch for Chelsea as Raheem Sterling's goal shortly before half-time pulled us level with Borussia Dortmund on aggregate, before Kai Havertz slotted in from the penalty spot at the second time of asking to put us 2-0 up on the night and 2-1 ahead overall, booking our place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

• Watch the highlights of our win over Dortmund

• Havertz relives his penalty nerves

• Sterling: We knew we could do it

It was a tight and tense game, but the Blues were worthy winners at Stamford Bridge, with the two goal scorers and our wing-backs catching the eye for the part they played in helping us make the pitch big to open up gaps we could exploit in the Dortmund ranks, especially in a brilliant first-half performance, inflicting defeat on a German side which had won every game in all competitions since the start of 2023, prior to their visit to west London.

James and Chilwell own the wings

For long periods of the game, our biggest threat came when we attacked in wide positions, thanks in no small part to the way wing-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell alternated between hugging the touchline and supporting the midfield duo of Mateo Kovacic and Enzo Fernandez, keeping the Dortmund players guessing and making it seem like we had an extra man or two on the pitch at times.

Only 26 per cent of Chelsea attacks came through the middle of the pitch, with 33 per cent on James' right wing and a significant 41 per cent on Chilwell's left. Chilwell's attacking involvement was underlined by the fact his two shots from wing-back was only one less than the best Dortmund players - Jude Bellingham and Marius Wolf managed three each.

Chilwell's two key passes were also the joint-highest for Chelsea, along with Havertz, while his seven crosses were comfortably more than anyone else, as Dortmund duo Wolf and Raphael Guerreiro managed four each, just ahead of James' three.

Speaking of James, despite our attacks down the right, his most significant contribution was arguably in helping us win back possession, taking some of the pressure of our back three by applying it to our opposition.

He also frequently stepped in to snuff out attacks before they could become a threat, as shown by his five interceptions, the most of any player on the pitch.

Havertz and Sterling stretch the line

The work of our front three caused Dortmund plenty of problems at the Bridge. While Joao Felix contributed to Chilwell's threat on the left, dropping deep and wide to create triangles around the German players, Sterling and Havertz spread the opposition defence wide open.

Havertz would usually be considered the man leading the line, but often that wasn't the case on this occasion, as he was constantly switching positions with Sterling during attacks, the German striker holding up the ball and dragging defenders with him, while the England international used his pace to force the back line to stay deep and attack the gaps we were creating.

The fact that Sterling was the only player flagged offside more than once, being halted by the linesman on three occasions, while not a single offside was given against Dortmund, shows how he was playing right on the last line of their defence and trying to run in behind.

By giving Dortmund something to worry about in behind, Sterling also provided more space for Havertz to play between the lines, and he made full use of it, posing a constant problem for the defenders.

In addition to matching Chilwell's two key passes, Havertz also registered the most shots (five) of any player, only Mateo Kovacic managed more successful dribbles for Chelsea (four to Havertz's three) and only Kalidou Koulibaly won more aerial duels for the Blues (four to Havertz's two).

Kai even managed to have the best passing accuracy of any Chelsea player who featured for at least 10 minutes, finding a team-mate with 87 per cent of his passes. It's not often someone operating mainly in the opposition half tops that particular statistic.

Back three earn the lockout

Of course, whenever we register a clean sheet, plenty of credit for the victory deserves to go to those at the back, in addition to the important contribution made by James in that area.

While Kepa Arrizabalaga made a couple of crucial saves to keep our lead intact, the way our back three combined was equally impressive.

Marc Cucurella pushed out to the left to deny Dortmund the chance to attack the space behind Chilwell, the Spaniard enjoying arguably his best performance for Chelsea so far on the big stage.

Alongside him, Kalidou Koulibaly stepped out of the back line to engage the Dortmund players early in the middle, while Wesley Fofana used his athleticism to cover round behind his fellow defenders and nullify the threat of a ball over the top.