RB Salzburg 1-2 Chelsea: Kovacic and Havertz stunners take Chelsea to last 16

Chelsea advanced to the last 16 of the Champions League thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 victory away at FC Salzburg.

Mateo Kovacic gave the Blues the lead in the 23rd minute, with the Croatian netting a worldie from the edge of the box.

Graham Potter's side continued to show attacking dominance in the first half, but had to settle for the one goal advantage at the break.

Junior Adamu scored shortly after the restart to bring the score level, but Kai Havertz curled an outstanding shot into the top left corner to put Chelsea back in front.

The Blues had to hold on in the final stages of the match, but were soon able to seal an important win in Austria.

Potter's side are now set to play in the knockout stages of the Champions League early next year.

Potter opted to go for an attacking lineup against their Austrian opponents, with Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic both playing as wing-backs.

Chelsea were very close to taking the lead as Havertz was able to get onto the end of a poor back-pass, but the German was denied by some brave goalkeeping from Philipp Kohn.

Salzburg then had their first effort of the game through Luka Sucic, but his shot went way over the bar.

The Blues soon took the lead though, with Kovacic firing a superb shot into the back of the net from the edge of the area.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came close to scoring the side's second, but his header that deflected off of the defender was saved well by Kohn.

The striker was then involved in another chance a few minutes later, but he couldn't score when one-on-one with the goalkeeper after some neat play from his teammates.

Havertz soon also had the opportunity to make it 2-0 to the visitors, but he could only hit his header straight at the goalkeeper.

As the first half approached its conclusion Chelsea continued to launch attacks at their opponent, with more brave and impressive goalkeeping from Kohn keeping them from scoring a second.

Potter decided not to make any changes at the start of the second half as the west London side looked to seal the win.

However, Adamu was on hand to level the scoring shortly after the break with his finish from inside the area.

Aubameyang was played through soon after but once again, he was denied by the Salzburg goalkeeper, with Jorginho's header from the corner being cleared off the line.

Pulisic was the next player to have a chance to regain the lead for Chelsea, but the ball was just unable to fall into the right path for him.

The Blues responded well to the goal from their hosts and were once again the side who dominated in terms of attack.

Their hard work soon paid off though, as Havertz curled a wonderful striker into the top left corner to put the visitors back in front in the 64th minute.

Noah Okafor and Benjamin Sesko both had chances soon after, but they were denied by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was Chelsea's first change of the match, with the midfielder coming on for Kovacic.

Kepa soon went to ground injured after a chance from Salzburg as Thiago Silva cleared off the line, with the Blues having to work hard to defend their lead.

Potter decided to make a double change as he brought on Cesar Azpilicueta and Armando Broja for the remaining minutes of the match, with Pulisic and Aubameyang making way for the duo.

As the game entered its remaining minutes, Silva went down after a heavy fall from an aerial challenge, but was soon able to return to action.

Kepa was on hand to make another strong save before Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech came on to replace Conor Gallagher and Hakim Ziyech in the final stages.

Chelsea had to withstand some late pressure from Salzburg as they closed in on the win, but they did well to protect their precious lead.

The full-time whistle soon came, and the Blues were therefore able to advance to the last 16 of the Champions League with one game left to spare.