League Cup: Chelsea Star Explains His Surprise Absence In Penalty Shootout Against Aston Villa

Timo Werner revealed why he did not take the penalty during Chelsea’s shootout win over Aston Villa in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Werner opened the scoring in the match with his 54th-minute strike on an assist from right-back Reece James. However, 10 minutes later, Aston Villa equalized with a goal from Cameron Archer and eventually taking the third-round clash to a shootout at Stamford Bridge.

While Romelu Lukaku, Mason Mount, Ross Barkley and James converted their spot-kicks, Ben Chilwell missed it. For Aston Villa, Ashley Young and Marvelous Nakamba failed to score their penalties, handing Chelsea a 4-3 win in the shootout.

Werner, who scored for Chelsea in the regular time, did not feature in the shootout for the Blues. Explaining why he did not, in a post-match interview, Werner said, "First of all, I had pain in my calf and couldn’t go out. When you have fit players on the pitch, it is better they shoot than I do today."

The 25-year-old German forward joined Chelsea in the summer of 2020 from RB Leipzig. He netted 12 goals in 52 competitive appearances for Chelsea in his maiden season, where he also helped them win the Champions League.

Werner, who is often on the receiving end of constant criticism for his struggles in front of the goal, said after the win against Aston Villa that it was special to hear the fans honor him following his goal in the second half.

"I feel good [hearing people sing my name]. It is good to be back on the score sheet, of course. We needed to keep winning and get into the next round of the Carabao Cup and we are happy with the game. A goal opens the game, the first half; both teams were passive and struggled with all their changes. I think when we scored in the second half we were under a lot of pressure and lost control, went to 1-1 and after that we showed a good reaction. We wanted to win in 90 minutes and were lucky to win on penalties," Werner was quoted by Goal, as saying in an interview.

Chelsea’s upcoming match is against Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday. The Blues played the last two games without their first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. It was earlier reported that the Senegal national is racing against time to recover for the clash with the league holders.