Hav to be at our best

ENGLAND duo John Stones and Kyle Walker will not need reminding of the threat Kai Havertz will pose tonight.

The Manchester City defenders were out of position in last month’s Champions League Final when the German ace scored the winner.

After a testing start to life at Stamford Bridge, Havertz (inset) has proved he is a man made for the main stage, with his coolly-taken strike against City and two goals for Germany already at Euro 2020.

The forward was not helped by testing positive for Covid-19 in November, with long-lasting effects. “It took some time – four or five weeks – before I was able to feel 100 per cent on the training ground again,” said Havertz. The former Bayer Leverkusen star, 22, has carried his fine end-ofseason form for Chelsea into the tournament, and has been directly involved in four of Germany’s six goals. One of them, against Hungary, in a 2-2 draw that saw Germany scrape into the knockout stages and book a clash with

England, looked simple enough, but Havertz revealed the pressure involved.

“From the outside, these are always the easiest goals, but as a player you can only do everything wrong with a ball like that,” said Havertz.

“Had I not scored that, I would have been the idiot.

“After a good game there’s a lot of praise. After a bad game you’re the scapegoat.”

Asked about the potential for a penalty shoot-out, Havertz insists the focus is on getting the job done beforehand.

He said: “The 120 minutes before penalties are much more important.”