Skip to main content

Advertisement

Chelsea shatter dream of Guardiola's Man City to win Champions League final

Chelsea players celebrate with the trophy after beating Manchester City in the Champions League final in Porto

Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time as a Kai Havertz goal secured a tense 1-0 victory over Manchester City in Saturday's final in Porto, shattering Pep Guardiola's dream of lifting the trophy for the third time.

Havertz rounded Ederson to score three minutes before half-time at the Estadio do Dragao and the Chelsea players ran to celebrate with the German.

Coach Thomas Tuchel, full of energy on the touchline just like his opposite number, punched the air in celebration, and later jumped with joy on the pitch after Chelsea held on for victory in the second half after City lost distraught skipper Kevin De Bruyne to injury.

The London club finished fourth in the Premier League, a huge 19 points behind champions City, but this, remarkably, was their third win over Guardiola's side in six weeks.

They ended City's hopes of a domestic treble when they triumphed in the FA Cup semi-finals in April and delayed their title celebrations with victory in Manchester.

Now, in a final watched by a limited crowd of just over 14,000 fans who created a raucous atmosphere, they have denied City the first Champions League crown they and Guardiola so crave.

"It was an incredibly tough fight, what a fight. Today they were determined to win this. We wanted to be the stone in their shoe," Tuchel told BT Sport.

"The effort was huge. We overcame some difficult moments and had a fantastic attitude to defending."

City had to wait 13 years after being taken over by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour just to get to the Champions League final.

They are now the eighth consecutive team to lose in their first appearance at this stage. The same misfortune befell Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain last year as well as Tottenham Hotspur when they were beaten by Liverpool in the last all-English final in 2019.

"It is the first time we're here, we'll learn, we'll come back," Guardiola said.

"The players did everything, they wanted to do well, to win this competition, sometimes you perform well, sometimes not."

Chelsea also lost when they first got to the final, on penalties against Manchester United in Moscow in 2008.

They overcame the final hurdle by beating Bayern Munich in a shoot-out in 2012 and now they have their second European Cup to move level with Juventus, Benfica and Porto as well as another English side, Nottingham Forest.

Their transformation into one of Europe's super clubs has been down to the riches of Roman Abramovich, their Russian oligarch owner who was in attendance in Portugal.

"It's such a special occasion. At this moment in time, we're the best team in the world. You can't take that away from us," said Mason Mount, who has been outstanding for the Stamford Bridge side this season.

Chelsea have been transformed since the appointment as coach in January of Tuchel, but City were still the favourites after their third Premier League title triumph in four seasons.

Feeding off the energy of the crowd in a stadium filled to a third of its capacity -- all fans required negative Covid-19 tests to gain entry -- both teams played with a level of intensity rarely seen in the last year of football in empty grounds.

City pressed high but struggled to trouble Edouard Mendy in the Chelsea goal, while at the other end Timo Werner should have done better than shoot straight at Ederson in the 14th minute.

Chelsea then suffered an injury blow as an emotional Thiago Silva was forced off hurt, Andreas Christensen taking the Brazilian's place in central defence.

Yet it was they who opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, Mason Mount's ball splitting the City defence, allowing Havertz -- their marquee 71 million-pound ($100m) signing last summer -- to go around the lunging Ederson and convert into an empty net.

City now needed to break down a Chelsea defence that has been exceptional under Tuchel.

But they lost De Bruyne just before the hour mark, the Belgian taken out in a collision with Antonio Ruediger that appeared to leave him concussed.

He came off in tears, and Guardiola instead turned to Sergio Aguero for the latter stages, but there was to be no glorious send-off as a City player for the Argentine, as a Riyad Mahrez shot sailed just over in the sixth minute of injury time.

A decade on from his last European Cup triumph, there was to be no third for Guardiola. He remains one adrift of the record for the coaches with most wins in the competition, held jointly by Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane.

Comments

Facebook

Ads

Popular posts from this blog

President Ram Nath Kovind lauds Narednra Modi government’s campaigns to promote health and education for...

President Ram Nath Kovind lauds Narednra Modi government’s campaigns to promote health and education for... President Ram Nath Kovind said some people in our country were unable to understand the importance of daughters. President Ramnath Kovind Saturday lauded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi -led central government’s awareness campaign to promote health and education for women and girl’s. While inaugurating an international workshop of the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Society of India (FOGSI), organised at the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical (GSVM) college, President Kovind said even though daughters faced more restrictions than sons, they were surging ahead in many areas. Kovind said some people in our country were unable to understand the importance of daughters. Speaking about the Centre’s initiatives for women, he said, “I am happy that the central government’s schemes like ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’, ‘sukanya samriddhi’ and ‘kishori yojna’ etc., are chang...

Jussie Smollett Reacts to 'Empire' Renewal News

Jussie Smollett is unlikely to return to Empire during the upcoming sixth season, but he is still showing support for the Fox series. The network just announced that the show has been renewed for a new season , but Jussie ‘s character Jamal will not be in any of the early episodes. His contract has been extended for the possibility of a return in the future. A representative for Jussie released a statement with his reaction to the news. Click inside to find out what was said… “We’ve been told that Jussie will not be on Empire in the beginning of the season but he appreciates they have extended his contract to keep Jamal’s future open. Most importantly he is grateful to Fox and Empire leadership, cast, crew and fans for their unwavering support,” his rep said in a statement (via Variety ). It has been reported this past week that the cast of Empire has been rallying behind Jussie and campaigned for him to be included in season six.