At the edge of the box with space to turn, there might have been a natural instinct to play a safe pass into the feet of his peers, shifting responsibility rather than taking a risk: but this was not going through the mind of Kai Havertz in Salzburg.
Within seconds he had measured the ball and swiped it with his left foot, wickedly curling and bending towards the top corner before smacking the top of the bar and rippling the net. A stranded Philipp Kohn was unable to repel this effort and it would prove to be the goal to clinch Chelsea's place in the Champions League knockout stage.
Havertz had grasped the game within a flash, he had turned it on its head and dragged his team back from a slightly precarious position at 1-1 where a frantic affair could have swung either way. This is why Chelsea spent over a year chasing his signature in 2019 and 2020. It was for match-winning moments of genius and decisive input others could not provide
