Champions League final, 2021, Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 to lift their second trophy
The European Champion Clubs’ Cup is no longer up for grabs.
And just like that, we have another UEFA Champions League competition in the books.
English Premier League clubs Manchester City and Chelsea battled it out in the Champions League final on Saturday at Estadio do Dragao in Porto, Portugal, but it was Chelsea who took home the trophy after beating Man City 1-0.
Chelsea, the only London team to win the UCL, took its second title in its third trip to the finals. It was Man City’s first finals appearance.
Here are the top moments from the competition.
Havertz finally gets things going
At the 42-minute mark, Chelsea attacking midfielder Kai Havertz, assisted by Mason Mount’s through ball, scored the first and only goal of the match.
He previously had four goals and three assists in the 2020-2021 English Premier League regular season.
Havertz was the Chelsea hero, oozing class on the ball, looking every inch the high-end addition from last summer, but N’Golo Kanté ran him close, as he did everybody in a City shirt. The midfielder’s reading of the game, coupled with his speed and decisiveness, was a joy to watch, while Antonio Rüdiger stood out in a defence that absorbed the 38th minute loss of Thiago Silva to injury.Advertisement
City’s misery was reflected in the tears of their captain, Kevin De Bruyne, when he was forced off on 59 minutes after a cynical check by Rüdiger and the questions raged long into the night for Guardiola.
The pressure had been on the manager because, whether he likes it or not, his tenure at City will be defined by whether he wins the Champions League. It is the trophy that Sheikh Mansour has craved since his takeover in 2008, since he started funnelling all that cash into the club – around £1.7bn on transfer fees alone.
Was Guardiola influenced by what he saw from Tuchel’s Chelsea in those defeats in the FA Cup semi-final and the league; by the need to try something surprising? He certainly did that. The pre-match expectation had been that he faced an either/or question between Fernandinho and Rodri in defensive midfield. In the event, he chose neither. And, in the expected absence of a recognised No 9, we had the full Pep – a lineup loaded with attacking midfielders and wingers.
It was a battle to classify the City formation, particularly as Oleksandr Zinchenko stepped from left-back into midfield. Phil Foden buzzed around De Bruyne, who played up front, with Bernardo Silva asked to get up and down to the right of Ilkay Gündogan, the deepest sitting midfielder, and Mahrez and Raheem Sterling providing the width.
