Thierry Henry has praised ex-Chelsea forward Timo Werner after RB Leipzig downed Celtic in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night at Parkhead, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (11/10/22 at 10:15 pm).
The legendary striker was talking about Werner’s change in form, after leaving Chelsea for £25 million in the summer (BBC Sport), with his goal and assist knocking Ange Postecoglou’s side out of the Champions League.
When in Chelsea colours, Werner couldn’t hit a barn down and an expectant Celtic crowd would have hoped the German striker would have brought his shooting boots from Stamford Bridge when he returned to British soil last night.
Instead, Celtic got a player full of confidence, playing with intelligence, making the right decisions and causing problems in the final third.
After a lively start from the Scottish Premiership champions, both teams started trading serious blows without finding the back of the net, before Werner turned the game during the last 15 minutes.
Following Andre Silva’s cut-back from inside the box, Werner put his side ahead with a first-time header, before he controlled substitute Abdou Diallo’s brilliant cross-field ball from inside the box, waited for the ball to come down and played a well-weighted pass which was finished off by Emil Forsberg.
This cool, calm and ruthless Werner was nowhere to be seen when in the Premier League, as Henry shared why he is possibly back to his best now that he has left Chelsea.
“I will call it confidence,” said Henry. “You have players who don’t care if you put your arm around them. They will come, execute and leave.
“Then you have some players that need to feel the love. They need to feel maybe that they are going to play for 90 minutes. The best example is the second goal.
“First and foremost on the first control, Werner would never have put that ball down at Chelsea, and then he would never have seen Forsberg. He would have rushed it trying to do something, overthinking it and overdoing it.
“I saw it before, he was calm before and he is calm again. Maybe he would have shot (when he brought the ball down) because people said he can’t score at Chelsea – it gives you confidence when you score again. Then I see him pass it with his left foot at the right time.
“Sometimes you go to some places, they don’t show you that love, I’m not saying he didn’t have it, but if he didn’t feel it like he felt it at Leipzig, then you aren’t going to be at your best and you won’t take the right decision.”
WASTEFUL CELTIC PUNISHED BY WERNER
If Celtic were just able to find that opening yesterday, then perhaps the scoreline would have read a different story.
Instead, it leaves the Bhoys bottom of Group F with one point and now facing a fight to secure a Europa League finish.
Shakhtar Donetsk conceded a stoppage-time equaliser against the now-qualified Real Madrid to open that door for Celtic, whilst Leipzig will be hoping for a favour from the Glasgow club because if they beat the Ukrainian side in a couple of weeks, then it boosts their chances of getting to the knockout rounds.
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