{"id":700681,"date":"2026-05-29T03:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700681\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T03:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:16:08","slug":"kai-havertz-just-to-watch-the-champions-league-final-is-very-special-to-play-in-it-is-unreal-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700681\/","title":{"rendered":"Kai Havertz: \u2018Just to watch the Champions League final is very special, to play in it is unreal\u2019 | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Kai Havertz thinks back to the 2021 Champions League final, he can\u2019t help smiling. Chelsea\u2019s surprise victory over Manchester City<\/a> in Porto still feels like yesterday for the Germany\u00a0striker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something I will never forget,\u201d he says. \u201cAs a kid I could have never dreamed I would score a goal in the final and win that game. I will always be proud of it. I just try to take that feeling and hopefully it will happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Havertz is looking ahead to Arsenal\u2019s final against Paris Saint-Germain<\/a> in Budapest on Saturday, when not many give them a chance of winning. It was the same when Chelsea, managed by Thomas Tuchel, took on a formidable City assembled by Pep Guardiola that had won the Premier League by 12 points. Chelsea had finished fourth, a further seven points adrift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the underdogs on that day, for sure,\u201d Havertz says. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t had the best season. But now it is completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal arrive having won their first Premier League since 2004 and Havertz, who as part of the celebrations posted a selfie with Win, the brown labrador who resides at the training ground, is in line to start. He has been preferred to the \u00a364m summer signing Viktor Gy\u00f6keres <\/a>in recent games against City and Burnley and is relishing the prospect of playing in European club football\u2019s showpiece match for the second time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is just so much history with it,\u201d he says. \u201cSo many big players played in it, and to be there, to compete to win the trophy, is amazing. I remember as a child I watched all the games \u2013 and just to watch that final is something very special. So to play in it is unreal.<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz celebrates his winner against Burnley that set Arsenal up to clinch the title the following night. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to get there, and then you still have to make that step and win it. It is going to be hard, but we are going to be well prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many observers were surprised when Arsenal paid \u00a365m to sign Havertz<\/a> from Chelsea two years after his Champions League final heroics. But he finished as top scorer last season despite missing its last three months with a hamstring injury and hopes to repay Mikel Arteta\u2019s faith on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the one who brought me to the club and he taught me so much stuff on the pitch \u2013 and off the pitch as well,\u201d he says. \u201cI am very thankful for that time, how he helped me a lot when I had difficult moments. That is also very\u00a0important.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nice that we also got him a little gift [the Premier League title] back now. He brought the club back to where it belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Havertz missed almost five months after sustaining a knee injury<\/a> on this season\u2019s opening day against Manchester United, returning in January. The 26-year\u2011old was initially expected to be out for weeks, but ended up having two surgeries and spent weeks in a knee brace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a bad place when I was injured. You are just inside a building. You cannot go out, you cannot walk, you do nothing. But all the players and staff helped me believe in myself and to get back to my best.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone told me from January how there is so much to play. That is where my momentum also shifted and I am just happy that I am here again now. I try to help the team every day. I tried that also when I was injured, just to help them off the pitch. That is always\u00a0important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Havertz lifts the Champions League trophy after his goal won the 2021 final for Chelsea against Manchester City in Porto. Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n

Havertz\u2019s goals at Bayer Leverkusen, his former club, in the Champions League\u2019s last 16 <\/a>and at Sporting in the quarter-final <\/a>were crucial, as was his first Premier League goal at the Emirates for more than a year in the win against Burnley<\/a> that teed up the following night\u2019s title win. He also scored in April\u2019s defeat at the Etihad\u00a0Stadium.<\/p>\n

Havertz singled out Arsenal\u2019s Carabao Cup final loss <\/a>to City rather than that subsequent defeat as the turning point in their season. \u201cIt was a moment where we felt we could do so much better and there was so much more in this team and everyone needed to lift their spirits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was the international break after and we just said to ourselves that we need to come back stronger. From that moment things changed a bit and we were more successful. That was a big moment. You are always frustrated when you lose finals, so to come back from it and win the league like this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

It ensures confidence is high before facing PSG. Havertz says: \u201cWe have been fighting on the highest level for a couple of years now and we have finally won the Premier League. That gives us a big boost. It doesn\u2019t matter if you are an underdog or whatever. We are going to go on the pitch and are going to beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Kai Havertz thinks back to the 2021 Champions League final, he can\u2019t help smiling. Chelsea\u2019s surprise victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-700681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}