For many football fans, Saturday’s Champions League Final will be the culmination of what has been a long and somewhat unusual season. A lack of fans at games and a shortened calendar has meant many more games crammed into a shorter season.
READ: A preview of the 2022 Champions League Final
With Euro 2020 set to start just a couple of weeks from now (11th June) the Champions League Final is the last big hurrah for the club teams this season and for Manchester City and Chelsea, it a chance for them to get their hands on arguably the most coveted trophy in club football.
It is the second time in three years that two English teams have made it through to the final, Liverpool and Tottenham did so in 2019 with the Reds winning 2-0. Prior to that we also saw Manchester United and Chelsea contest a final back in 2008.
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In such a high-prestige game, you can expect many fans to be interested in the players and other factors that could decide the outcome of the game, so with that in mind let’s take a closer look at the match.
Champions League Final
Chelsea v Manchester City
- Venue – Estadio do Dragao, Porto
- Date – Saturday 29th May
- Kick Off – 8pm UK Time
- Referee – Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
Chelsea Team Preview
- Manager – Thomas Tuchel
The German started the season as manager of Paris St Germain but after being sacked was appointed Chelsea boss when Frank Lampard was sacked earlier this season. He has guided the team to an FA Cup Final and the Champions League Final, as well as a fourth place finish in the Premier League in less than six months in charge.
Chelsea Squad
- Goalkeepers – Eduoard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Willy Caballero
- Defenders – Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Emerson Palmieri, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva
- Midfielders – Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz, Billy Gilmour, Christian Pulisic
- Attackers – Timo Werner, Olivier Giroud, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Tammy Abraham
Predicted Chelsea XI – (3-4-2-1) – Mendy, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner.
How Chelsea Reached The Final – Chelsea
Champions League Group Stage
- V Sevilla (H) – D 0-0
- V Krasnodar (A) – W 4-0
- V Rennes (H) – W 3-0
- V Rennes (A) – W 2-1
- V Sevilla – (A) – W 4-0
- V Krasnodar (H) – D 1-1
The Londoners topped their group one point ahead of Sevilla, ostensibly due to a fantastic 4-0 away win against the Spaniards on matchday five that rendered their last fixture against Krasnodar meaningless as they had already clinched top spot in the group.
Champions League Knockout Stage
- Round of 16 – V Atletico Madrid (1-0 Away) (2-0 Home) (3-0 agg)
- Quarterfinals – V FC Porto (2-0 Away) (0-1 Home) (2-1 agg)
- Semifinals – V Real Madrid (1-1 Away) (2-0 Home) (3-1 agg)
Manchester City
- Manager – Pep Guardiola
Having been in charge of the most decorated period in Manchester City’s long history, Pep Guardiola only has the Champions League missing from his CV. Having failed to win the competition with Bayern Munich the ex-Barca boss wants to land the trophy both for himself and the club owners and fans.
Playing Squad
- Goalkeepers – Ederson, Zack Steffen, Scott Carson
- Defenders – Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Bernard Mendy, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Eric Garcia, Ruben Dias
- Midfielders – Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden
- Attackers – Ferran Torres, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Liam Delap
Predicted Manchester City XI – (4-3-3) – Ederson, Kyle Walker, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Rodrigo, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Riyadh Mahrez.
How They Reached The Final – Manchester City
Champions League Group Stage
- V FC Porto (H) – W 3-1
- V Marseille (A) – W 3-0
- V Olympiakos (H) – W 3-0
- V Olympiakos (A) – W 1-0
- V FC Porto (A) – D 0-0
- V Marseille (H) – W 3-0
As in previous seasons, Manchester City had no issues progressing through the group stage and had wrapped up qualification following their win over Olympiakos. A 0-0 draw against Porto in the fifth game meant they clinched top spot in the group too.
Champions League Knockout Stage
- Round of 16 – V Borussia Monchengladbach (2-0 Away) (2-0 Home) (4-0 agg)
- Quarterfinals – V Borussia Dortmund (2-1 Home) (2-1 Away) (4-2 agg)
- Semifinals – V Paris St Germain (2-1 Away) (2-0 Home) (4-1 agg)
Recent Form & Comparison
- Chelsea – LWLWWWWDWd
- Manchester City – WLWLWWWWWL
In their last ten games, Chelsea have lost just twice, City losing three times and two of those games were against Chelsea. That does seem to give the Londoners something of a boost heading into this game.
Those two wins for Chelsea were a 1-0 FA Cup Semifinal win at Wembley back in April and a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on May 8. However, earlier in the season City had beaten Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in a game that Pep Guardiola’s side totally dominated.
Chelsea have the edge when it comes to European trophies too having won the Champions League once, the Europa League twice and the Cup Winners Cup twice. City have won just one European trophy, the 1970 Cup Winners Cup.
Champions League Final Tips And Predictions
So the big question is who will win the game on Saturday and lift the trophy? In truth, unlike the Europa League game in midweek, I think this is a game that is not likely to go to extra time and I do see a winner being decided inside the 90 minutes.
For me, despite their recent form against Chelsea not being great, that should be Manchester City. They should have enough quality and possession to turn that into goals and I think Chelsea will struggle to contain them as well as they have in the previous two games.
City are 5/6 to land the win but I think a better option is for City to win and both teams to score which is a 7/2 shot with bet365.
If you are looking at a couple of other bets, then backing City to win by a correct score of 2-1 is an 8/1 shot with bet365 Sport, while Kevin De Bruyne to score anytime is a very tempting 11/5 also with bet365.
*All odds shown were correct with bet365 Sport as of Wednesday 26th May 2021.
