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.
If you are interested in Saturday night’s massive game in Porto, then you may well want to have a bet on the outcome. If that is the case then bet365 Sport are a wise choice as the site offers an extensive range of bets on the game, both pre match and also In Play while the game is in progress.
Remember too, if you have not long signed up with Bet365 and have played through your deposit, then you could well have some remaining bet365 bet credits available in your account to bet with.
And if you are one of the growing legion of fans that are following the game from the United States, perhaps as a fan of either City or Chelsea, then check out BetRivers PA for a fantastic range of bets on the game.
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.
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
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.
Champions League Group Stage
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
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
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.
Champions League Group Stage
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
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.
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.
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