Kai Havertz called on his behalf chelsea teammates will prove their determination to win a second Champions League He won the title in three years after taking penalties twice. Borussia Dortmund.
Graham Potter‘s side rebounded after a goal after the first game in Germany to end the Bundesliga side’s 10-game winning streak and advance to the quarter-finals next month.
Havertz saw his second-half kick hit a post after Marius Wolf’s handball, but was delayed when VAR decided the Dortmund players had entered the area.
The 23-year-old player, who scored the winning goal in the final when Chelsea won the tournament under former boss Thomas Tuchel in 2021, used the same pausing technique to kick the ball into the same corner, this time making an angle. Inside the pole to turn the direction of the tie.
Chelsea put on the best performance of Potter’s reign to ease the pressure during a difficult time and beat Leeds 1-0 on Saturday for their third win in 15 innings.
Yet his team took two contentious decisions to cross the line – a penalty decision and a retake, both of which Dortmund strongly objected to.
“The referee let me take it again, so I was a little nervous,” Havertz said. “I finally scored and that’s the most important thing.
“I tried to wait to look at the goalkeeper. I saw that he was going to go the same way again, which made things a little easier.
“We have to build. We’ve lost a lot of games in the last two weeks. Today was important because we know that the Champions League is an important tournament, the last tournament we are in. We must give our all for this. We showed character, we showed that we want to win this competition again.”
The Blues led the night with a kick from Raheem Sterling late in the first half, the goal came after midfielder Mateo Kovacic’s showdown to free Ben Chilwell, who was converted by Sterling on the second attempt.
“I’ve seen Kai take a lot of penalties in practice and I was so sure he was going to shoot it behind the goal,” Sterling said. “The first one knew exactly what he was doing and we felt confident again.”
With his future in the balance ahead of the Leeds game, Potter was unable to watch Havertz’s second inning, with some reports suggesting he had two games to save his job, and looked straight to the ground as his side drew.
“To win a game to get into the final eight of the Champions League, you have to say it’s there in terms of wins and evenings in my career,” Potter said. “I watched the first penalty, it didn’t do much.
“Secondly, I looked down and waited for the crowd to make a noise. It depended on Kai’s personality. Kai’s temperament is at a very high level.”