ROYAL BLUE
Chelsea edge City to emerge kings of Europe
Portugal, May 30: Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time as a Kai Havertz goal secured a tense 1-0 victory over Manchester City in Saturday’s final in Porto, shattering Pep Guardiola’s dream of lifting the trophy for the third time.
Havertz rounded Ederson to score three minutes before half-time at the Estadio do Dragao and the Chelsea players ran to celebrate with the German.
Coach Thomas Tuchel, full of energy on the touchline just like his opposite number, punched the air in celebration, and later jumped with joy on the pitch after Chelsea held on for victory in the second half after City lost distraught skipper Kevin De Bruyne to injury.
The London club finished fourth in the Premier League, a huge 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 fans who created a raucous atmosphere, they have denied City the first Champions League crown they and Guardiola so crave.
City had to wait 13 years after being taken over by
It was an incredibly tough fight. They were determined to win this. We wanted to be the stone in their shoe. The effort was huge. We overcame some difficult moments and had a fantastic attitude to defending
THOMAS TUCHEL, CHELSEA COACH
Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour just to get to the Champions League final.
They are now the eighth consecutive team to lose in their first appearance at this stage. The same misfortune befell Qatarowned Paris SaintGermain last year as well as Tottenham Hotspur when they were beaten by Liverpool in the last allEnglish final in 2019.
“It is the first time we’re here, we’ll learn, we’ll come back,” Guardiola said.
“The players did everything, they wanted to do
well, to win this competition, sometimes you perform well, sometimes not.”
Chelsea also lost when they first got to the final, on penalties against Manchester United in Moscow in 2008.
They overcame the final hurdle by beating Bayern Munich in a shoot-out in 2012 and now they have their second European Cup to move level with Juventus, Benfica and Porto as well as another English side, Nottingham Forest.
Their
transformation
into one of Europe’s super clubs has been down to the riches of Roman Abramovich, their Russian oligarch owner who was in attendance in Portugal.
“It’s such a special occasion. At this moment in time, we’re the best team in the world. You can’t take that away from us,” said Mason Mount, who has been outstanding for the Stamford Bridge side this season.
Chelsea have been transformed since the appointment as coach in January of Tuchel. —