Chelsea’s Kai Havertz shakes off France loss with excellent effort in Germany’s 4-2 win over Portugal

Chelsea star Kai Havertz did not not have a great game against France during Germany’s opening match of the Euro 2020 competition.

The former Bayern Munich transfer target made up for it, however, with a strong effort against Portugal where he was a nightmare to deal with at times. Havertz had a goal and also played a role in creating an own goal with darting runs toward the net.

“You could see that we had a lot of joy in the game. We had a lot of chances. We can be very satisfied with the game. I didn’t hear that much of the criticism, I always try to stay relaxed about it,” Havertz said (as captured by Tz). “I think we can be satisfied overall with the performance. We knew that Portugal is a tough opponent, just like France. I think we did well. Of course, I’m also happy about the goal. After losing the game against France, it was important for us not to throw everything out of kilter right away, but to stay a bit true to our line and have confidence in the system and our players. The national coach has given us a lot of confidence. We are happy to have scored three points today. The victory was very important for us. The game against France was unfortunate, so the three-points was very important.”

Germany has put itself firmly in control of its own destiny, but Havertz cautioned everyone about thinking too far ahead.

“(Hungary is) a tough opponent that you can’t underestimate. It will be another tough one for us. Every European Championship game is tough, so we’ll regenerate well and be fresh on the pitch again in four days,” Havertz said. “It’s not done yet, there’s now a very unpleasant opponent waiting.”