Football

Chelsea boss Graham Potter reveals why he didn’t watch second Havertz penalty

March 8, 2023 12:00 pm
Chelsea boss Graham Potter reveals why he didn’t watch second Havertz penalty

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has revealed that he didn’t watch the crucial Kai Havertz penalty in Tuesday’s win over Borussia Dortmund.

Havertz and Raheem Sterling scored either side of half-time to clinch a 2-0 victory for the Blues in the Champions League round of 16 second leg, with Chelsea winning the tie 2-1 on aggregate.

Many within the game have labelled it as the biggest night of Potter’s Chelsea career so far, with the Blues into the next round of the competition amid a miserable league campaign.

Chelsea boss didn’t watch Havertz winner

Potter revealed in the build-up to the match that Havertz had been chosen as his number one penalty taker after Jorginho’s January exit to Arsenal.

And while the German fluffed his lines first time out, he showed great composure to slot the ball home when offered another chance due to encroachment from opposition players.

But it was a match-winning and indeed tie-winning strike that not even Chelsea manager Potter could witness, despite his confidence in the talented forward.

“I watched Kai’s first penalty but for the second one, I just thought I’ll sit down and listen to the crowd noise!” said Potter, as reported by the Chelsea website.

“I’m not sure why I did that really, superstition perhaps, but as soon as I heard the noise lift from the crowd then I knew it was safe to look.

“We were confident in Kai, he’s our penalty taker and he showed that he’s a player for the big moments by scoring in such a pressure situation.”

Sterling back among the goals

Potter also took time to praise the other goal scorer on the night, with Sterling getting the Blues up and running against Dortmund.

The England international, like many of his Chelsea teammates, has been struggling for goals this season. The London outfit have been resolute at the back, but finding the back of the net has been a real issue under Potter.

But Sterling returned to the scoresheet at an important time, with the forward currently Chelsea’s joint-leading scorer this season, level with Havertz on seven.

Potter noted: “I thought Raheem alongside Kai was excellent and I was really pleased for him too. He played a slightly different role, but I thought he was really effective, and he caused their backline a lot of problems.

“Raheem’s a goalscorer and has plenty of experience in this competition, so we just felt that if we could get him and Kai into those attacking areas then we could have some joy in front of goal and thankfully those two both scored.

“Overall, it was a great team performance, and we’re through to the quarter-finals which is the next step for us.”

Chelsea

Chelsea ready for next step

As noted by Potter, the Champions League quarter-finals now await the Blues, with the club able to focus a lot of their efforts on the competition given their lack of distractions.

Chelsea currently sit 10th in the Premier League table, with a top four spot seemingly out of the question. They were also knocked out of the FA Cup and League Cup early on. The rest of March sees the Blues take on Leicester and Everton in league action.

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