Werner finally looks like a €60m player

Carlo Garganese

• 8 Dec 2021 20:02 GMT
• 4 min read

Timo Werner almost saved Chelsea singlehandedly tonight. Almost.

It’s not often we’ve heard those words during his Chelsea career.

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With just five minutes remaining in St Petersburg, Chelsea were drawing 2-2 with Zenit, a result that would have meant the Blues finished second in Champions League Group H behind Juventus.

But then Timo Werner thought he had come to the rescue. He took down the ball just inside the penalty area on the left, shifted the ball quickly onto his right foot before finishing superbly past goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov.

It was his third goal contribution of the game. He had earlier put Chelsea 1-0 ahead after just one minute and 22 seconds - the fastest Champions League goal in the club's history.

Zenit turned the game on its head before half time with goals from Claudinho and Sardar Azmoun.

But then Werner came to the fore once again on 62 minutes with an excellent assist, squaring the ball to Romelu Lukaku, who could not miss in front of an open net.

Werner kept pushing and probing, a constant livewire in attack. He had five shots in total during the game and was one of the few Chelsea outfield players to really impress as Thomas Tuchel deployed an experimental XI.

But Werner’s one-man show wasn’t enough in the end as Magomed Ozdoev rifled home a stunning injury-time half-volley into the roof of the net to clinch a 3-3 draw.

Chelsea did finish second after all, on 13 points, as Juventus won the group with 15 points.

Tuchel and Chelsea will be hoping this draw doesn’t prove costly when the Champions League knockout draw is made on Monday. They now have a 50 per cent probability of drawing either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, with the other options Ajax and the winner of Group G (Lille, Salzburg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg all battling it out for qualification).

Given the fact Chelsea hammered Juve 4-0 at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago to highlight the gulf in class between the two sides, this was an unforgiveable slip.

But there was some real positive news with Werner’s performance. He has only scored one Premier League goal this season, having hit six last term.

His confidence has been shattered and he has become something of a laughing stock. But on Wednesday night he looked like the player who Chelsea agreed to pay Leipzig €60 million for. The question now is can he keep it up?