Champions League: Man City and Chelsea to lock horns
Chelsea and Manchester City will battle it out on May 29 at the end of an unprecedented European season that saw the sport return to football fields across the continent with no spectators.
The nal of the 202021 UEFA Champions League is here, and after a long season of ebbs and tides, Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will battle it out on May 29 at the end of an unprecedented European season that saw the sport return to football elds across the continent with no spectators.
In a season marred by the European Super League asco during its later stages, both nalists received their fair share of backlash for being part of a cabal of 12 teams that proposed an invitationonly, exclusive richboys club that would have alienated them from both the game as well as their fans, in a move seen as encouraging of corporate greed and a violation of football’s ethos of merit and inclusivity.
Faced with the imminent threat of suspension from UEFA competitions, nine of the 12 clubs — City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham
Hotspur from England, Spain’s Atletico Madrid, and AC Milan and Inter Milan of Italy — soon withdrew from the project, with the two Champions League nalists being the rst English clubs to dither. The nine later signed a letter of apology recommitting themselves to UEFA and agreeing to pay a collective amount of €15 million that will be used to fund youth and grassroots football across Europe.
Sticking to the basics
Guardiola has had one of the most welloiled units in Europe over the past few seasons, but his tendency to tinker with tactics in crunch matches has seen City come up short in the Champions League. This propensity to overcomplicate matters has been the major factor behind his lack of continental success after his time at Barcelona. This tampering with the basics has cost City in the Champions League knockout stages before — while accommodating
an extra man in mideld to deal with Jurgen Klopp’s highpressing Liverpool in the 201■ quarternals, and not elding crucial players like Kevin de Bruyne and Vincent Kompany in the rst leg against Tottenham Hotspur at the same stage a year later.
This time, the Spaniard stuck to the basics, and the changes worked positively. City won 21 away to Paris Saintgermain (PSG) courtesy goals by de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez. Starting the second leg as the favourite with two away goals from the rst, the English Premier League champion took advantage of the absence of PSG star Kylian Mbappe as it maintained an ecient low block with fullbacks Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kyle Walker constantly pressing throughout the game, which negated the threat of Neymar and Angel Di Maria considerably.
City’s eciency on the day showed as PSG had 14 shots at goal but not a single one on target, while PSG’S fullbacks allowed Mahrez and Phil Foden to thrive, the Algerian scoring his side’s two goals.
A revamped Chelsea
When Tuchel took over the reins at Chelsea in January after Frank Lampard’s sacking, not many would have predicted that the German would reach his second consecutive nal in Europe with an underperforming team.
Under Lampard — the club’s alltime leading goalscorer — Chelsea was mostly ineective and toothless. Tuchel took charge at a time when the side was devoid of condence and defensively inecient, but he has done a fantastic job as Chelsea’s starstudded lineup has gelled in his short time with the London club.
Tuchel’s constant emphasis on maintaining intensity throughout the game and resorting to a 3421 formation allowed Chelsea to strike a positive balance between defence, mideld and forward play with the fullbacks playing a major role in shifting gears during transitions.
In the Champions League seminals, Chelsea had the upper hand after a 11 rstleg draw with Real Madrid, as it deployed Kai Havertz at the front in the second tie for his aerial capabilities. Chelsea was excellent with its transition play throughout the game as Madrid’s ageing squad had no answer to the London club’s lightningquick counterattacks spearheaded by German speedster Timo Werner, who got an easy but muchneeded goal to boost his condence.
N’golo Kante’s omnipresence in the mideld completely took Luka Modric and Toni Kroos out of the game as Tuchel’s side dished out a compact defensive eort to keep Madrid’s limited attacking threat at bay. Former Chelsea star Eden Hazard, who has had a torrid time at Madrid with injuries, was virtually invisible throughout the game.
A Mason Mount goal assisted by Christian Pulisic late in the second half put the tie to bed as Tuchel led Chelsea to its third Champions League nal.