Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KAI AND MIGHTY
Havertz knows the pain of being an expensive outcast like Lukaku and admits: If I hadn’t have scored THAT Champions League goal... I would have been called so bad but two seconds changed everything
BY JOHN CROSS
Chief Football Writer
@johncrossmirror
KAI HAVERTZ recalls it as the moment everything changed for him at Chelsea.
When his first season went from being seen as a “disaster” to writing his name into the history books by scoring the winner in the Champions League final.
Those are the small margins between success and failure. That is why Havertz sees the Carabao Cup final as another opportunity but also how things can turn quickly for any player, including team-mate Romelu Lukaku.
Havertz, 22, who joined Chelsea in 2020 in a £71million deal, said: “That goal changed everything around. If I had not scored that goal, everyone would say it had been a disaster of a first season for me. “I would not say that to myself because I know I was 20 or 21 when I came here and, at this age, it’s not easy to change everything.
“Overall, I was not happy apart from the Champions League goal. It can take one, two or three years to adapt 100 percent to this league, to this club, to this new lifestyle, and I think this goal helped me a lot.
“If I didn’t score this goal everyone would say, ‘He’s so bad.’ Two seconds in one year that maybe changed the whole year for me. Small things really can turn everything around.” Havertz is the player threatening to keep Lukaku (in
training with Thiago Silva, below) out of the team at Wembley, as Chelsea’s £97.5m record signing is struggling for form and goals, and now faces a battle to kickstart his career.
But there is genuine warmth towards a team-mate and friend from Havertz rather than seeing Lukaku as a rival.
Havertz said: “I know this feeling. It’s not easy when you come to a club with a £100m package and everyone wants you to perform from the first to the last minute in a game.
“We are all human, everyone makes mistakes, but apart from that we are a little bit too bad on Rom.
“You cannot forget he scored in the semi-final and the final of the Club World Cup, goals which were huge for us. So, you cannot forget that.
“I was not the first in that situation. There were a lot of Chelsea players before in that situation. Rom is not the first and he will also not be the last one. It takes some time.”
Havertz is also different to Lukaku as he plays the “false 9” role in attack which is somebig
zthis is the third major final between Chelsea and Liverpool (excluding Community Shields and Super Cups), with the Blues winning the other two.
zliverpool are looking to win the League Cup for a record ninth time. This is their 13th final in the competition – four more than any other side.
zchelsea are competing in their ninth League Cup final, winning five. Only Liverpool and Manchester City (eight each) have won the trophy more.
zthis will be the eighth League Cup tie between Chelsea and Liverpool, the Blues winning four.
zunder Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool have won 35 percent of their meetings with Chelsea (6/17). Among sides they have faced at least 10 times under the German, only to Manchester United (33%) do they have a lower win ratio.
zklopp is winless in his last four managerial meetings with compatriot Thomas Tuchel (D2 L2), including three since Tuchel joined Chelsea (D2 L1).
zchelsea will be the first team in English football to compete in a major domestic cup final in six seasons in a row, reaching the FA Cup final in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20 and 2020-21, and the League Cup final in 2018-19 and this term.
zchelsea have been runners-up in each of their last three major domestic cup finals (2019 League Cup, 2020 and 2021 FA Cup). Only Newcastle and Aston Villa have failed to win four consecutive final appearances in the two competitions, with no side ever doing so in consecutive seasons. have not lifted the trophy in either of their last two domestic cup finals, losing the 2012 FA Cup final to Chelsea and 2016 League Cup final to Manchester City. thing his movement suits. “I think it all started when Lionel Messi played this position in Barcelona a long time ago. I don’t think everyone knew this position beforehand,” said Havertz.
“I know the meaning of the phrase, I know I’m not a real No.9, but also I don’t see me as a real No.9.
“Manchester City play without any real strikers. It is just another system in football which you have to adapt to.
“We can play both, with a No.9 and without. It’s sometimes just a matter of the opponent and how the last matches may have gone.”
Havertz is the player for the big occasion. He scored the winners in the Champions League final and in the Club World Cup final, and now has the chance for more success against Liverpool tomorrow (Chelsea stars in training, above). “You know you have to enjoy these moments,” added Havertz. “After my career I am going to sit there and you could think, ‘Why didn’t I enjoy these moments more?’
“As a kid, you see these games and think, ‘How does the player feel? He is so happy’.
“We play football to reach games like these, to play finals, I think everyone dreams of playing in these games.
“They are the biggest games you can play in as a footballer and we have a good and strong opponent.”