Chelsea have been crowned the Champions of Europe for the second time in the club’s history with Thomas Tuchel’s men handing Manchester City a 1-0 defeat in the final played at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto.
Kai Havertz was the lone goalscorer with the German’s goal deciding the game in his side’s favour as they finished the season on a euphoric high.
TEAM NEWS
Tuchel had Edouard Mendy and N’Golo Kante back in his starting lineup despite early doubts over the duo being fit in time for the Champions League final.
Timo Werner was retained in the No.9 role for Chelsea as Tuchel brought in Kai Havertz to partner up with Werner and Mount up top on the pitch.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
It would be fair to say that both sides enjoyed equal footing in the opening quarter of the game and the chances falling their way in the attacking half were wasted away.
Ederson’s superb long-range ball found Raheem Sterling making a run inside the Chelsea backline but the City winger was stopped in his tracks by fellow England international Reece James who turned out at his very best in the final showdown.
For the Blues, it was the under-fire Timo Werner who had as many as three efforts on Ederson’s goal but neither sought to end the German forward’s recent slump in form.
Chelsea suffered a major setback on the injury front with their Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva going down after a header which led to his substitution soon thereafter as Tuchel brought on Andres Christensen off the bench to replace Silva in the heart of the backline.
But just three minutes later the Blues made a breakthrough when Midfielder Mount split open the Manchester City defence with an exquisite through ball, which forced City goalie Ederson to rush out of his goal giving Kai Havertz a chance to skip past him and roll the ball into the empty net to make it 1-0 for the Blues.
Further distress was in store for Manchester City as their playmaker Kevin De Bruyne had to be withdrawn off the pitch owing to a concussion injury after a clash with Antonio Rudiger and Guardiola brought on an extra attacker in place of the Belgian by throwing on Gabriel Jesus up top on the pitch.
Christian Pulisic came on for Chelsea as he became the first player from America to feature in the UEFA Champions League final and the former Dortmund man nearly doubled the advantage for his side after being set up by Havertz only for his effort to go wide of the goal.
Pep Guardiola’s men upped the pressure in the hopes of pulling one back but were largely unsuccessful in overcoming a highly resilient Chelsea backline which was further protected by the ever-present N’Golo Kante in the centre of the park.
Antonio Rudiger marshalled the defence for Thomas Tuchel’s side with the German himself making a crucial last-ditch tackle to defy City from finding the back of the net as Guardiola brought on Sergio Aguero for his final game in the Manchester City shirt.
Chelsea had to endure seven minutes of stoppage time before the final whistle sounded out to award them the Champions League trophy after what a hard-earned win Porto.
