Havertz Takes Chelsea to Champions League Title Against Man City
Mason Mount and Kai Havertz combined to score the winner for Chelsea at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto.
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Chelsea won their second UEFA Champions League title as German Kai Havertz scored the winner against Pep Guardiola and Manchester City at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto on 29 May.
Interestingly, Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel, who joined the club in the final week of January, was on the losing end of this fixture with Paris Saint-Germain last year against Bayern Munich, as was Thiago Silva, who went off injured in the first half.
The contest was Chelsea’s first appearance in the final since their 2012 triumph over Bayern Munich in Munich, and third overall. Man City’s defeat in the final means Sergio Aguero will not finish his career at the club on a high. The Argentine, who is expected to sign with Barcelona soon, came on as a substitute in the final stages of the second half.
The London club got the better of the opening exchanges even though Timo Werner continued to struggle with his finishing. Chelsea successfully kept City at bay, not allowing them to settle down and get their passing game going, while causing a fair bit of concern at the other end. With the half looking set to close out goalless, Chelsea were forced into the first change of the game when the lost Thiago Silva to a leg injury, before City’s fans were stunned into silence.
Mason Mount picked up possession from Ben Chilwell in midfield and played a defense splitting pass, leaving City’s high line floundering. Havertz waltzed through the lines, bearing down on the area and hurdling the onrushing Ederson before putting the ball into an empty net.
Desperately needing to score early in the second half City lost Kevin de Bruyne around the hour mark due to a head injury after a clash with Antonio Rudiger and hardly ever troubled the Edouard Mendy.
USA’s Christian Pulisic made history in the 66th minute, becoming the first American male to appear in a UCL final when he was subbed on for Werner, and nearly made an immediate impact but saw his dink over Ederson to go well wide of the post.
Pep, who started off with a rather surprisingly attacking line-up, brought on Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus and Aguero but in vain as Kante and co slammed the doors shut.
City waited for 13 years since Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour took over the club just to get to the Champions League final. They become the seventh consecutive club to lose in their first appearance at this stage. Chelsea lost their first final to Man United in 2008 before winning against Bayern Munich in 2012.
This was Pep Guardiola’s, two-time Champions League winner as manager, first defeat in a cup final as manager of Man City and his third defeat to German manager Thomas Tuchel. Co-incidentally, the last three managers to win the men’s Champions League have been German.
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