‘We were even saying it’: Rio Ferdinand surprised after what World Cup manager did to Chelsea star yesterday

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Rio Ferdinand initially questioned Hansi Flick’s decision not to bring on Kai Havertz last night at the World Cup.

Speaking on the BBC after Germany’s draw with Spain, Ferdinand admitted he was originally surprised that the Chelsea forward didn’t enter the fray.

Havertz began on the bench yesterday, having been dropped by Flick following a frustrating display in the previous group game.

Chelsea’s 23-year-old started as the lead striker against Japan, but failed to register a single shot in the match.

This is despite German managing to fire 26 shots in total towards their opponent’s goal.

Japan eventually won the tie 2-1, thanks to a clinical period in the final 15-minutes.

Havertz dropped for World Cup tie

With his nation’s tournament ambitions already hanging by a thread, Flick was forced to tinker with his team for the Spain clash.

He decided to remove Havertz from the line-up and played Thomas Muller through the middle.

This change did not muster the desire effect, however, as Muller was just as mediocre as a striker.

Germany’s woes continued as they conceded to Alvaro Morata just after the hour mark.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Flick throw on the international rookie Niclas Fullkrug.

Before his substitute appearance, the Werder Bremen attacker had only earned two senior caps for Germany.

At the point Fullkrug entered the fray, Ferdinand revealed he was slightly shocked not to see Havertz come on ahead of him.  

“Everyone else would’ve probably been sitting there going: ‘Havertz, where’s Havertz?’ We were even saying it on here,” said the former defender.

As it transpired, Flick made the perfect call.

Flick thanks Fullkrug, Havertz might not

Fullkrug hit the sweetest of strikes past Unai Simon to level the scores in the final flourishes of the encounter.

“This guy (Flick) knows his squad. He knows what he needed. Two number nines came on the pitch today and it’s changed the game. The finish was devastating,” continued Ferdinand.

As much as Havertz surely enjoyed seeing his teammates celebrating on the pitch, a knot must’ve occurred in his stomach straight after Fullkrug found the back of the net.

His compatriot potentially played his way into the XI for Germany’s crunch clash versus Costa Rica.

He might not feature at the tournament again if the 2014 World Cup champions fail to get a result on Thursday.