BLUES HIT THE KAI NOTE IN WIN
Havertz puts Chelsea into the next stage
KAI HAVERTZ led the cleanest getaway into the Alps since Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.
As Chelsea marched through to the knockout phase with a game to spare, they absconded with the spoils like the Von Trapp family disappearing into the Austrian night.
They should have been home and hosed long before Havertz, who scored the winner against Manchester City in the 2021 final, renewed his love affair with the Champions League.
The German has not always been flavour of the month with the fans but his 64th-minute goal was sensational.
Left foot, top corner, kissing the bar on the way in – wallop.
If head coach Graham Potter thought this Champions League lark would be as easy as picking Edelweiss on the high mountain pastures visible from the Red Bull Arena, he was right.
Noah Okafor’s late equaliser in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge – Potter’s first match in charge after Thomas Tuchel’s brutal sacking – must have been a lucky counterpunch because Salzburg were game but nothing special here.
That night also featured Raheem Sterling’s last goal for Chelsea, partly because he has been used as a flying picket to plug gaps or conform to Potter’s preference for three at the back.
Sterling’s form since then has been more D’oh-Ra-Heem than Doh-Ray-Me and he made little headway as a wing-back here.
Potter needs to get more out of him but the Blues deserved to extend his unbeaten start in the job to nine games.
In the city where Mozart was born and souvenirs bearing his name are prominent, Chelsea were almost handed a gift in the second minute.
But goalkeeper Philipp Kohn, sold short by Bernardo’s back header, sprawled bravely at the feet of Havertz.
Salzburg looked nervous when Chelsea committed bodies forward under their Potter-ball blueprint. And after 23 minutes Mateo Kovacic broke through, the Croatian steering a delightful shot into the top corner from 20 yards.
It was his first goal since January and left Kohn rooted to the spot admiring its flight path.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang then went close three times before the break.
Instead of putting Salzburg out of sight, his near-post header from Conor Gallagher’s corner was foiled by Kohn.
He should then have buried a one-on-one with the keeper when Havertz teed him up, but Kohn came charging out to make an outstanding stop from the last kick of the first half.
As the chances came and went, Havertz also headed straight at Kohn from six yards, even though the Salzburg stopper shovelled it to safety with all the grace and poise of putting out a cat.
Inevitably, Chelsea paid the price for failing to put the game beyond the home team.
Kovacic had already survived a close call for handball in the box when Maximilian Wober’s
cross picked out the unmarked Junior Adamu and he steered an undeserved equaliser past Kepa Arrizabalaga three minutes after the break.
But Havertz, set up by Christian Pulisic, restored Chelsea’s lead with his third goal for the club this season.
And although Kepa needed to make a sharp save to deny Salzburg substitute Benjamin Sesko another equaliser, Potter’s men saw out six minutes of added time with relative comfort.