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Former Premier League star Rafael van der Vaart has been left fuming after Ziggo Sport drew parallels between Chelsea’s Timo Werner and Robin van Persie.
According to the Dutch outlet, the Chelsea star’s movement leading up to his second goal against Zenit resembled Van Persie’s work on the ball. Van der Vaart, however, did not like the comparison and threatened to walk away from the studio if such comments persisted.
Chelsea made the trip to Zenit for their final UEFA Champions League group stage fixture on Wednesday night. Tied with Juventus on points at the top of the table, Chelsea needed to match or better Bianconeri’s results to progress as group winners. Zenit put up a surprisingly resilient showing and restricted Premier League aspirants Chelsea to a 3-3 stalemate.
The draw saw Chelsea concede their top spot to Juventus, meaning the Premier League giants are likely to have a tough draw in the last-16. Although most Chelsea players were below par, Timo Werner enjoyed one of his best outings for the Champions League holders. He scored the first, set up Romelu Lukaku’s second, and netted Chelsea’s third goal in the 85th minute.
According to Ziggo Sport, Werner’s composure inside the box looked identical to Premier League legend Robin van Persie’s in his heyday. The comparison left a sour taste in Van der Vaart’s mouth, so much so that he threatened to leave the studio.
As per Mirror, Van der Vaart said:
"If you compare Werner with Van Persie one more time, I will walk away now."
Between 2004 and 2015, Van Persie was one of the most lethal players in the English Premier League. The Dutchman scored a total of 144 goals in 280 Premier League appearances over his spells at Arsenal and Manchester United.
Chelsea desperate to get Premier League campaign back on track
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea are going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. They were beaten by West Ham United in their last Premier League outing and could not get the better of Zenit in the Champions League.
Two draws in three Premier League matchdays allowed Manchester City and Liverpool to leapfrog Chelsea and the Blues are eager to return to winning ways. The Blues will take on a struggling Leeds United side this Sunday and are likely to field their strongest XI to get the job done.
