JOE COLE praised Kai Havertz’s mentality after he scored the winning goal to send Chelsea through against Borussia Dortmund.
The Blues overturned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg to progress to the quarter-final 2-1 on aggregate, with Raheem Sterling also getting on the scoresheet.
But the tie hung in the balance mid-way through the second half when Chelsea were awarded a penalty.
Cole noticed Sterling and Reece James both put themselves in contention to take the spot-kick before Havertz grabbed the ball.
The German missed initially but the referee ordered a re-take after spotting encroachment into the box, and Havertz made no mistake second time round.
That impressed Cole who praised the forward on BT Sport after the match.
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The pundit said: “He has got a great habit Kai, in big moments, we’ve seen him score the winning goal in the Champions League.
“We watched, we had a great view from the studio and there was a little melee about who was going to take it.
“I think Raheem was there, Reece [James] was there and he [Havertz] grabbed it with real meaning and I thought ‘yeah, he’s going to put this away but to do the exact same technique was fantastic.”
Havertz had the confidence to place his penalty in the same corner but manager Graham Potter did not share his belief.
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The Chelsea boss could not watch and instead looked down at the ground as the 23-year-old stepped up.
He told BT Sport: “After the first one I thought I’ll sit down now and listen to the crowd and thankfully the noise was there.
“I didn’t know a massive amount, I knew they had encroached and my assistant is better with the rules than me.
“It was him or Reece, sometimes you have to let the lads on the pitch sort it, we’ve got confidence in Kai.
“I was delighted when I heard the roar, even though I wasn’t watching. I’m in awe of anyone who can take penalties, it wasn’t for me.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
