Chelsea, Man City meet in Champions League final
Teams share tenacious defensive approach
PORTO, Portugal — Talking points as Manchester City and Chelsea meet Saturday in an all-english Champions League final:
Guardiola vs. Tuchel
It’s a meeting of two of the sharpest minds in soccer, seven years after coaches Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Thomas Tuchel of Chelseaa were first properly acquainted — in a Munich restaurant where they talked tactics for hours using salt and pepper shakers as props and were so animated that waiters were too afraid to interrupt.
Guardiola is the “benchmark,” according to Tuchel, and is looking to win the 27th major trophy (excluding Spanish Super Cups and English Community Shields) of his 13-year coaching career. It’s his third Champions League final — a first in 10 years — and he won his first two at Barcelona.
Tuchel became the first coach to reach back-to-back finals with different clubs, having lost last year’s title match with Paris Saint-germain.
The pair are so tactically astute that they are prone to overthinking in big matches. Indeed, whoever has more clarity in his thinking is likely to emerge victorious.
Too rested?
The teams have had contrasting buildups to the final.
While City was able to rotate its lineup in the last weeks of the Premier League with the title wrapped up early, Chelsea was at full tilt through the end of the season to secure a top-four finish.
No strikers
Get ready for a strikerless final — kind of.
City is sure to go into the match without a genuine striker, with center forwards Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus on the bench and attacking midfielders Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva alternating as “false nines.”
It’s not the first time Guardiola has adopted this tactic — he did so often at Barcelona — but he has never had a team that spreads the goals around as much City’s class of 2020-21 does.
Chelsea is also likely to start without the presence of an out-and-out striker. Timo Werner should start but potentially in a deeper, inside-left role. Mason Mount and either Christian Pulisic or Kai Havertz — all three being attacking midfielders — will complete Chelsea’s forward line.
Defenses rule
It’s unlikely to be a goal-fest at Estádio do Dragão.
City and Chelsea had the best two defensive records both in the Premier League — conceding 32 and 36 goals, respectively — and in the group stage of the Champions League — conceding one goal and two goals, respectively. In the knockout stage, the teams conceded only five goals (two by Chelsea, three by City) between them in 12 games.