There have been big changes on and off the pitch for Chelsea in the past year but Havertz believes those are challenges which will be overcome as the team continues to gel.

However, he has acknowledged the need for the team to improve in order to meet the high expectations of representing a club like Chelsea, and sees the Champions League as our best opportunity to do so during the current campaign.

That is especially true given how often knockout football has brought the best out of the Blues, and there could be parallels between 2022/23 and 2020/21, when our Champions League campaign ended with Havertz scoring the winning goal in the final despite our domestic difficulties earlier in the campaign.

‘When a new coach comes in, in the middle of the season, there’s been many changes in the club, a new owner, new players, it’s a completely different situation,’ Havertz told UEFA's Champions League magazine show. ‘I think everything needs time to settle in.

‘Of course, our goal still remains reaching the top four, but I think everybody knows that we’re not satisfied and that Chelsea’s expectations before the season were different. We’re here to win titles and that goes for every year. A season like this isn’t easy for us at all. We’ll now focus on the Champions League because we know we’re a “tournament team” and that we’re able to achieve great things this season there.

‘The Champions League is special, you never know what’s going to happen. We were in 10th place in the Premier League when we changed manager in 2020/21 and suddenly we played the Champions League final. It all happens very quickly, so you don’t know what will happen. I think this [game against Dortmund] will be an amazing match and both teams have good chances to go through. Therefore I am keen to see how it turns out.’

Another reason Havertz has to look forward to our Champions League meeting with Borussia Dortmund is the chance to go up against a familiar face, in the form of Dortmund and Germany winger Julian Brandt.

In addition to being international team-mates, Havertz and Brandt came through the ranks at Bayer Leverkusen a couple of years apart, before starring together in the senior side. Furthermore, they built a lasting bond on and off the pitch due to their similar playing styles, personalities and a shared love of Fortnite and sushi, before their careers took them in different directions.

‘Julian is also quite an introverted guy, which means he’s unlikely to approach people of his own accord and needs time to feel at ease around people,’ remembers Havertz. ‘That’s the way it was with me, too. Neither of us are the type who go out and get to know people right away. Rather, we grew closer over the course of a year.

‘We are both players who have the same idea of how to play the game, which helps us to understand one another on the pitch because we both have similar ideas about football. And then there’s the friendship aspect too, and if that works then the understanding on the pitch is probably all the better. That’s the way it was with us two. We got on well on and off the pitch, so personally I enjoy looking back on that time. It was a great time and I think it helped both of us significantly in terms of our development.’

Havertz also revealed how much it helped to have another young team-mate in Brandt who was going through the same thing and could share the burden, when a teenage Kai first burst onto the scene with Leverkusen and experienced the pressure of expectation that comes with being one of the side’s rising stars.

‘Firstly, because I felt very comfortable on the pitch, it was very fun to play for this team back then. At the same time, it was also a good fit for my development.

‘We were both in the situation where a lot of people had their eyes on us. We were the faces of the club, so to speak, or the poster boys, because of our age. It was good for me at the start because then that’s a lot for a young player – this was in 2018 and 2019.

‘All eyes are on you, but I had Julian always by my side, who was under the same pressure. That meant when I had a bad game, I could hide myself behind him, so to speak. That was really good for me as a young player, so it did help my development a lot.’

However, as important as it may have been in both players’ development, Havertz and Brandt will both be putting their friendship to one side in the pursuit of Champions League victory when Chelsea take on Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of our encounter this evening.