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Man City v Chelsea: The Champions League final preview
Manchester City meet Chelsea in the final of the Champions League on Saturday night.
Pep Guardiola’s side are bidding to a win a first European Cup in club history with their manager hoping for a third triumph having last lifted the most famous trophy of all back in 2011 with Barcelona. They beat Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain in thrilling quarter and semi-finals to get here and will now be hoping for one more win in their first appearance in European football’s showpiece game.
Chelsea have been here before of course having won it so dramatically back in 2012. Manager Thomas Tuchel, who arrived at Stamford Bridge back in January before guiding them all the way here, reached the final of the tournament just last year of course – with PSG – only to fall to Bayern Munich. The Blues saw off Atletico Madrid, Porto and Real Madrid on their way here and, having beaten City in their last two meetings, will be confident they can triumph in Portugal.
Both teams are at full strength with Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and midfielder N’golo Kante both passing late fitness tests to be included. City have no injury concerns with Guardiola able to pick from a full-strength squad. Raheem Sterling gets the nod for the Premier League champions with both Fernandinho and Rodri on the bench.
The game has been switched from Istanbul to Porto so that 6,000 supporters of each side can attend tonight’s game with many more flooding into Portugal to cheer their team on.
Follow minute-by-minute Champions League final updates from Estadio do Dragao right here throughout the night.
Huge chance missed by Werner!
9 mins: Some argy bargy in the box sees Chlesea win a free kick from the corner and they sweep quickly up the pitch. Kai Havertz and Mason Mount combine on the left wing with Mount slotting the ball into the byline for havertz to chase down. He does so then pulls the ball back to Timo Werner who’s in bags of space in the box. Werner goes for goal but misses the ball and it bounces away off his standing leg.
Michael Jones29 May 2021 20:12
6 mins: Oh my. What a ball this is from Ederson. Raheem Sterling makes a run in behind the Chelsea backline and Ederson guides the ball up the pitch to perfectly pick out Sterling on the edge of the Chelsea box. Sterling’s first touch isn’t great but he manages to break away from Reece James and win a corner for Man City.
Michael Jones29 May 2021 20:09
3 mins: A long ball goes over Oleksandr Zinchenko’s and is collected by Chelsea’s Timo Werner. He has his first match up with John Stones but doens’t make it past the City defender who blocks the attempted cross and knocks the ball out for a throw in.
Michael Jones29 May 2021 20:04
Manchester City kick off the Champions League final
Kick off: Ilkay Gundogan gets the final started with a short pass to Kevin De Bruyne. He sends it out wide to Raheem Sterling on the left side. Chelsea win the ball and play across their own penalty area where Antonio Rudiger is put under pressure by Riyad Mahrez but manages to get the ball clear.
Michael Jones29 May 2021 20:02
Here come the teams
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea have already defeated Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City twice this season. Will they complete the hat-trick on the biggest stage of European football?
The teams head out onto the pitch. The 2021 Champions League final kicks off next…
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:58
Thomas Tuchel on his team selections
We had some final words but everything is set now. The players have to do it. They know it. It’s their quality, their commitment and team effort that can decide this match on our side.
“We went for a little bit of height. Timo [Werner] and Kai [Havertz] are good team-mates together. It was a tough choice to leave Christian [Pulisic] out but he is a strong choice from the bench. We need 15 or 16 today to finish this game, hopefully in a positive way. I hope we start strong and can finish stronger.
“There are a lot of offensive players in [the Man City line-up]. I think they will create a double six. It is a big game in Europe so we are up for it.”
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:54
Pep Guardiola on Sterling selection
We have a chance to win the game but we need everyone. The second half I’m pretty sure will be different than the beginning.
“We need specific players in that area so we decided on [Raheem Sterling.]”
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:50
Back-to-back
Chelsea defender Thiago Silva featured in last season’s Champions League final for Paris St-Germain and becomes the fifth player to play in the final in consecutive seasons with different teams, after Marcel Desailly (1993 Marseille, 1994 Milan), Paulo Sousa (1996 Juventus, 1997 Borussia Dortmund), Samuel Eto’o (2009 Barcelona, 2010 Inter Milan) and Alvaro Morata (2014 Real Madrid, 2015 Juventus).
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:48
Young talent
Manchester City’s Phil Foden (21 years, 1 day) becomes the third-youngest Englishman to start in a Champions League final, after Owen Hargreaves in 2001 for Bayern Munich (20 years 123 days) and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold in both 2018 (19 years 231 days) and 2019 (20 years 237 days).
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:44
What if it goes to penalties?
The Europa League final between Manchester United and Villarreal went to penalties on Wednesday with the Spanish side winning 11-10 after David De Gea’s spot kick was saved by Geronimo Rulli. But what if tonight’s final goes to a shootout?
Thomas Tuchel says his team are prepared: “The penalty shootout [in the Europa League final] was fantastic in terms of quality from the takers. I don’t think I have ever seen something like this – 20 penalties in a row with no miss and so well taken.
“We have identified the guys who should take the penalties for us but I don’t know who is in the end on the pitch so we need to be well aware but if we go to penalties we go in together and out together.”
Michael Jones29 May 2021 19:41
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