The forward’s first season at the club has been a struggle but could yet end in triumph in the
Champions League final
Timo Werner had scored 36 goals in his first year and a half at RB Leipzig but modesty prevailed when he was invited to assess his standard. “To become world class, you have to play in the really big teams,” he said in February 2018. “And then also play in big games like the final or semi-finals of the Champions League.”
The moment of anointment arrives in Porto on Saturday evening, or at least that is the idea. Last week Werner called his first campaign at
Chelsea “the unluckiest season I have had and will have”, but the line between ill fortune and a place among the stars is vanishingly thin. All it might take is a 13th strike since his arrival last June: should he decide the biggest match of his career in Chelsea’s favour, most of the question marks that have accompanied him will evaporate.