Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Lisbon: Chelsea won their second UEFA Champions League title on Saturday night against the odds after beating Manchester City 1-0 at the Dragao Stadium in Portugal.
Winning coach Thomas Tuchel had spent the whole week leading up to the clash saying that his team were underdogs against the team led by Pep Guardiola.
Despite greater possession and territory, Manchester City failed to break through the Chelsea defense.
Guardiola surprisingly left midfielder Fernandinho on the bench even though Rodri was absent, as Raheem Sterling was chosen to form the attack along with Phil Foden coming down the middle.
Tuchel, on the other hand, fielded no surprises, with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and midfielder Ngolo Kante returning.
The game started at a frenetic pace, with Chelsea having the first chances through Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
In the eighth minute, Sterling received the ball on the left inside the area, but Mendy managed to save from the England international.
At that point the two teams were trading blows, until Werner had his third chance inside the area on 15 minutes but failed to convert.
After 20 minutes, Guardiola was already imposing his positional style of play and Manchester City had 59 percent possession.
The only goal came in the 42nd minute with Mason Mount making a precise pass for Havertz to beat Man City goalkeeper Ederson.
In the second half, the opening minutes saw City's dominance, but with no chance of real danger against Mendy.
In a pattern that continued for the rest of the game, City dominated possession without much creativity, while Chelsea waited and looked to break.
And so it was until the final whistle, as City were unable to draw level, and Chelsea were crowned UEFA Champions League winners for the second time in their history.
