Sterling: We knew we could do it
08 MAR 2023
Raheem Sterling says the Chelsea squad fully believed we could advance into the final eight of the Champions League going into last night’s 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Chelsea have now won eight of our last 10 Champions League home games and head into April’s quarter-final stages brimming with confidence.
Sterling netted once again on the grandest of stages to take his career tally in the competition to 27, and it was a huge goal for the Blues too as it set us on our way to a vital win.
After the game, Raheem reflected on a big European night at the Bridge.
‘It was a massive performance. We had to dig deep. We took our chances and recently we just haven’t had the luck,’ Raheem said post-match. ‘Tonight, we felt it as a team, we knew we could do it. Kai [Havertz] did it for us in the end.’
Havertz was the eventual match-winner with a coolly-taken penalty and Sterling says the German has been working hard behind the scenes at Cobham to perfect his spot-kicks.
‘I have seen Kai shoot penalties all the time in training, and I was so confident in him, and he knew exactly what he was doing and I knew he would put it in the back of the net.
‘I miskicked it and didn’t have a great first touch, but it landed perfectly for me and that set us on our way to build on the performance!’
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Havertz on penalty nerves and backing of Potter
08 MAR 2023
It was another huge match-winning moment in his Chelsea career for Kai Havertz on Tuesday night and after the match, the goalscorer spoke of his emotions during the game, the words of support his team-mates gave to him and his admiration of Graham Potter.
The Blues became the first team to beat Borussia Dortmund in 2023, who were on a run of 10 wins from 10 going into the crunch knockout clash, with a 2-0 victory over the German side.
Kai Havertz played a key role in the big victory under the lights at Stamford Bridge, but despite his undeniable confidence, he has admitted there were plenty of nerves before his match-winning penalty kick.
‘I tried to believe in myself. The boys gave me confidence at half-time, and we got the penalty really quickly. I was unlucky in the first half, hitting the post and then an offside goal as well. The last few weeks have been hard for me, obviously as a striker in a team like this you have to score. I try to be confident; the boys gave me a good feeling at half-time,’ Havertz said.
‘So I thought maybe I can turn it around, but I missed the first one and I thought it wasn’t going to be my night. I am happy to have turned it around, and I hope the season will go on!’
Kai then outlined his overriding emotions when he was stepping up to face Alex Meyer in the Dortmund net.
‘Firstly, I was nervous. But at the end I tried to remember that I dreamed of these moments when I was young. It is not nice to miss a penalty in these circumstances, but I knew this moment would make me stronger,’ he said. ‘That is why I scored, I tried to be calm. It worked out very well.’
It was a statement performance from Chelsea who have, in truth, dipped below expectations since the turn of the calendar year, and our German striker believes the result should help us kick on now.
‘We have a lot of big players in the team and we all know it will take time to adapt. Raheem [Sterling] is new as well, Wesley [Fofana] is new. I don’t know how many players were new in the starting XI, so it has been hard,’ he added before going on to back our head coach.
‘We are backing the manager 100 per cent,' he stated. 'We know there has been a lot of criticism on our side, we know the changing room is good and I hope the performances can go up now!
‘We know the pressure is coming at him [Graham Potter], but you can see he is a big manager. In the media, I cannot believe how many people talk about him. We have hundreds of coaches in England that think they know better than him. We know he is a big personality, he has helped us so much, me personally as well. We are behind him, and even though the people do not see it, we all saw last night he is a big manager.’
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