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Chelsea face Real Madrid in the Champions League second leg tonight, with Frank Lampard’s side in need of a miracle if they are to overturn a two-goal deficit against the holders at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have lost three games in a row since Lampard was appointed as interim manager until the end of the season and were comfortably second-best at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, with goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio sealing a 2-0 win for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
With a lack of quality in the final third still the major issue for the west London outfit, Lampard must consider restoring Kai Havertz to his starting side tonight, in the hope that Chelsea’s top scorer can inspire the Blues to an unlikely victory.
Should Havertz start against Real Madrid?
The former Bayer Leverkusen man was sidelined for last weekend’s 2-1 defeat by Brighton due to a knee problem but returned to training at Cobham on Monday and is reportedly fit to face Madrid.
Although the 23-year-old has been criticised for his “criminal” finishing this season – as per vlogger George Benson – he is still comfortably the top scorer in Chelsea’s squad, as he boasts seven goals in the Premier League and two in the Champions League so far this campaign.
With finding the net a must this evening, it surely makes sense to unleash the Germany international, as he has registered the second-most shots and fifth-most key passes per game in the Premier League throughout the Chelsea squad this term.
Havertz, who earns £150k-per-week at Stamford Bridge, earned a lot of praise from Owen Hargreaves on BT Sport after he scored in the 2-0 triumph against Borussia Dortmund earlier in the season.
He said (via Football 365): “I thought Kai Havertz was absolutely outstanding. He stepped up, the composure to step up and put it in the same place, I thought he was brilliant today.
“A lot of people say as a false nine, a player in different positions, I just thought he delivers. He was fantastic today, showed real composure in big moments.”
The young attacker’s ability in the air also makes him an excellent target man, and someone who can hold the ball up and be a threat from crosses, which could be crucial after the Blues struggled so much to keep the ball against Brighton over the weekend when Lampard selected three less-than-physical winger options in his attack.
Only Benoit Badiashile has won more than Havertz’s 2.4 successful aerial duels per game this season which suggests that he could dominate Madrid’s centre-back David Alaba, who has mustered just 0.4 aerials won per game in La Liga so far this term.
The Austrian possesses a huge amount of experience thanks to his time with Bayern Munich and Madrid but stands at just 5 foot 11, so could struggle against the 6 foot 4 Havertz, and Lampard must surely restore him to his starting side if he wants to see Chelsea progress to the semi-finals tonight.
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