Chelsea shatter imagine Man City to win CL final
Chelsea won the Champions Group for the second time as a Kai Havertz goal secured a tense 1-0 victory above Manchester City in Saturday's final found in Porto, shattering Pep Guardiola's imagine lifting the trophy for the 3rd time.
Havertz rounded Ederson to rating three minutes before half-period at the Estadio carry out Dragao and the Chelsea players ran to celebrate with the German.
Coach Thomas Tuchel, full of energy on the touchline just like his opposite quantity, punched the air in celebration, and in the future jumped with delight on the pitch after Chelsea held on for success in the second half after City shed distraught skipper Kevin De Bruyne to harm.
The London club finished fourth in the Premier League, an enormous 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 followers who made a raucous ambiance, they have denied City the first Champions Little league crown they and Guardiola consequently crave.
"It was an incredibly tough fight, what a battle. Today these were determined to get this. We wished to be the rock in their sneaker," Tuchel informed BT Sport.
"The effort was huge. We overcame some tricky moments and had an excellent attitude to defending."
- Abramovich's second European Glass -
City had to hold back 13 years after appearing bought out by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour merely to get to the Champions League final.
They are now the eighth consecutive team to reduce in their first appearance at this stage. The same misfortune befell Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain this past year in addition to Tottenham Hotspur if they had been beaten by Liverpool in the last all-English final in 2019.
"It is the first-time we're here, we'll uncover, we'll keep coming back," Guardiola said.
"The players did everything, they wanted to prosper, to win this competition, sometimes you succeed, sometimes not."
Chelsea also lost when they initial got to the ultimate, on penalties against Manchester United found in Moscow in 2008.
They overcame the final hurdle by beating Bayern Munich in a shoot-out in 2012 and today they have their second European Cup to go level with Juventus, Benfica and Porto in addition to another English side, Nottingham Forest.
Their transformation into among Europe's super clubs possesses been down to the riches of Roman Abramovich, their Russian oligarch owner who was simply in attendance in Portugal.
"It's such a special occasion. At this moment in period, we're the best team on the planet. You can't have that from us," explained Mason Mount, who possesses been exceptional for the Stamford Bridge aspect this season.
Chelsea have been transformed since the appointment as coach found in January of Tuchel, but City were even now the favourites after their third Premier Little league title triumph found in four seasons.
Feeding off the strength of the group in a stadium loaded to a third of its ability -- all fans required negative Covid-19 tests to get entry -- both teams used an even of intensity rarely observed in the last year of soccer in empty grounds.
- Havertz's marquee moment -
City pressed high but struggled to trouble Edouard Mendy found in the Chelsea goal, even while at the other end Timo Werner must have done better than shoot straight in Ederson in the 14th minute.
Chelsea then suffered a personal injury blow as a great emotional Thiago Silva was first forced off hurt, Andreas Christensen acquiring the Brazilian's place found in central defence.
Yet it had been 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 season -- to bypass the lunging Ederson and convert into a clear net.
City now had a need to break down a good Chelsea defence that is exceptional under Tuchel.
But they shed De Bruyne right before the hour tag, the Belgian applied for in a collision with Antonio Ruediger that seemed to leave him concussed.
He came off found in tears, and Guardiola instead turned to Sergio Aguero for the latter stages, but there is to be zero glorious send-off as a good City person for the Argentine, due to a Riyad Mahrez shot sailed merely over found in the sixth minute of injury time.
A decade on from his previous European Glass triumph, there is to come to be no third for Guardiola. He continues to be one adrift of the record for the instructors with virtually all wins in your competition, held jointly by Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane.
