Chelsea have won their second UEFA Champions League title after beating Manchester City 1-0 at the Estadio do Dragao in Portugal. In an exciting match that turned out to be an end-to-end affair for the majority of its runtime, Kai Havertz’s 42nd-minute strike proved to be the difference between the two sides.
The teams traded blows throughout the first half. As was expected, Manchester City saw more of the ball but Chelsea were set up to maximize their counter-attacking opportunities and they did. They had the better chances and City hardly gave Edouard Mendy any trouble.
City started the game by dominating possession. But against the run of play, Chelsea got a great chance to take the lead. Timo Werner failed to turn a Havertz cross home as his indifference to scoring goals cost Chelsea.
Werner’s poor finishing habits made yet another appearance about five minutes later when Chelsea got another chance to hurt Manchester City. After recovering the ball on the attacking half of the pitch, Chelsea’s promising break came to a halt as Werner’s tame effort did nothing to test Ederson. It was a moment of panic for the Cityzens
Chelsea’s counter-attacks continued to cause problems for Manchester City. Rudiger’s brilliant last-ditch challenge stopped almost a certain goal for City around the half-hour mark. Kevin De Bruyne was the creator but the ball was snatched away from Foden before he could apply the finish.
Shortly after that, Kyle Walker carved out a wonderful opportunity for City but it didnt fall kindly to Foden and missed him by a yard.
Kai Havertz scores to help Chelsea beat Manchester City and win the Champions League title
Kai Havertz put Chelsea ahead in the 43rd minute of the game. Mount drilled an exceptional through ball right through the heart of the City defence and Havertz flit past Ederson’s desperate tackle before passing the ball home.
Right before the hour mark, things went from bad to worse as Kevin De Bruyne was forced off after a rough body check from Antonio Rudiger for which he was shown the yellow card.
Chelsea almost struck gold with yet another blazing counter-attack. But after being released into a one-on-one situation, Pulisic dinked Ederson but he couldn’t find the back of the net.
Manchester City came close in the 90th minute but Andreas Christensen’s timely intervention helped Chelsea cling on to their slender lead. Mahrez came agonizingly close in the final minute of the game but it was just not to be for Manchester City.
At the end of the night, Chelsea were clear-cut winners. They created the better chances and should have had another goal as well. It was a team effort from Chelsea and everyone executed their jobs to perfection.
Let’s take a look at how Twitter reacted to Chelsea’s Champions League triumph.
Chelsea went into the final 10 minutes with a one-goal lead.
Another big match, another big N’Golo Kante performance.
✔️ Best player as Leicester win the Premier League
✔️ Man of the Match as Chelsea win the Champions LeagueNgolo Kante has completed football ? pic.twitter.com/bn5IPg62op
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) May 29, 2021
Manchester City confirmed this.
Reece James ve Phil Foden, Chelsea U13 – Manchester City U13 (2013).
Reece James ve Phil Foden, Chelsea – Manchester City Şampiyonlar Ligi finali (2021). pic.twitter.com/C1SMh9I9am
— Unutulmaz Fotoğraflar (@unutulmazfoto) May 29, 2021
Pep Guardiola has absolutely, truly and utterly blown this.
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) May 29, 2021
When Pep Guardiola was managing Barcelona, Thomas Tuchel was the glass collector at Radio Bar, as his savings had been spent on the insurance for the injury which ended his playing career.
— Kaustubh Pandey (@Kaus_Pandey17) May 29, 2021
In 2018, Yaya Toure’s agent, Dmitri Seluk said Pep Guardiola will never win the UEFA Champions League again because of an African voodoo curse, that was placed on him for treating Yaya Toure badly. pic.twitter.com/rCokS0QYVt
— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) May 29, 2021
If only there was a recent example of a club overloading their front six in a European final… Guardiola mismanaged that so badly. Daft omitting a defensive midfielder and choice of first sub odd. Chelsea were immense. Tuchel a genuinely great coach. #UCLfinal
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) May 29, 2021
6 – Chelsea have lifted the trophy in six of their seven major European finals in their history – with this their fourth European success in the Roman Abramovich era alone (Champions League in 2020-21 & 2011-12, Europa League in 2012-13 & 2018-19). Glory. #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/HcdNKf8pXm
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 29, 2021
3 – With Jürgen Klopp, Hansi Flick and Thomas Tuchel all doing so, this is the first time the European Cup/Champions League has been won in three consecutive years by three different managers of the same nationality since 1980-82 (Clough, Paisley, Barton). Class. #UCLFinal
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 29, 2021
Jupp Heynckes:
❌ Lost the final in 2012
✅ Won the final in 2013Jurgen Klopp:
❌ Lost the final in 2018
✅ Won the final in 2019Thomas Tuchel:
❌ Lost the final in 2020
✅ Wins the final in 2021German managers always bounce back ??? pic.twitter.com/tAhbmXOMms
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 29, 2021
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