There’s nothing bigger: Timo Werner on Champions League final

Timo Werner’s roller-coaster first season as a Chelsea forward is going the distance, with the Blues set to face Manchester City in the Champions League final on Saturday. After joining from RB Leipzig last summer, the German forward already has 51 Chelsea appearances to his name. A tally of 12 goals and another 15 assists is not a bad start for a player in his first season in English football. He would have definitely wished to score more in the Premier League but would have been happy with his team’s run, especially in the Champions League.

At one point finishing in the top four seemed a distant dream, not only have they managed it, but Chelsea are also in the Champions League final. Chasing their second title in the competition, Werner is happy to play in front of the 6,000-strong travelling Chelsea support. “The Champions League is something special,” he said.

“I think when you hear the anthem before the game and the fans get that feeling, that’s when you really start looking forward to the game. It will be great to play in front of fans again because we haven’t had them there this whole time. The Champions League final is the biggest game in club football. There’s nothing bigger and we’re all looking forward to it.”

Chelsea have won each of the past two meetings against Pep Guardiola’s side. Notably, in the Champions League, the Blues have been impressive. The comfortable 2-0 victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal second-leg made Europe take notice of their achievements.

Werner, however, spoke about their game against Porto in the quarterfinals and how much belief that tie gave them. “After the Atletico game, we were drawn with Porto who were seen as the easiest draw, but still proved to be very difficult opponents with their aggressive style of play,” he added.

“But after the win against Porto, we all started to believe that we could go very far, regardless of who stood in our way. We’ve had a lot of good games but I think the second leg against Real Madrid where we reached the final was special because we showed a lot of people that we can win against the big teams. That was by some distance our best game, even if it wasn’t the most decisive.”