Chelsea Football Club have won their second ever Champions League trophy.
The Blues beat Manchester City 1-0 in the final in Porto to lift the trophy.
After the win in Munich, Chelsea had not reach the final, however after long nine years, they have finally achieved their dream.
Thomas Tuchel Masterclass
Chelsea under the legend Frank Lampard were in a good form in his first season. However, his second season came under scrutiny.
His Chelsea side were in 9th position, one of the worst places in the table that the Blues have ever been.
So, Roman Abramovich decided to pull the plug on the long-term project and sacked Frank Lampard.
There were a lot of rumours about who the potential replacement could be. Managers like, Thomas Tuchel, Antonio Conte and even Hansi Flick were possible rumours.
However, after being sacked by PSG and in search for a new club, Thomas Tuchel became the front-runner to lead the Blues.
On the 26th of January 2021, Chelsea announced that the German manager will be leading the Blues for the second half of the season.
As soon as Tuchel joined, he had less than 48hrs to train the team and choose his players before facing Wolves.
His first game was a 0-0 draw and there were signs of improvement right from the start.
With Tuchel now leading the team, German players like Timo Werner, Kai Havertz as well as Rudiger were comfortable.
And as a result, their form and performance started improving on a daily basis.
Even though Timo didn’t score as he did in RB, his overall performance helped the team win and improve.
Thomas started playing with a back 3 in a 3-4-2-1 formation and that proved to be quite crucial for success for the Blues.
With the back line of Mendy, Azpilicueta, Rudiger and Thiago Silva, the Chelsea defence proved quite difficult to be infiltrated by the opponents.
Thomas became the first Chelsea manager to go unbeaten in 13 games in a row.
13 – @ChelseaFC are unbeaten in their 13 games under Thomas Tuchel in all competitions, the longest ever unbeaten start by a manager for the Blues in the club's history. Methods. #CHEATM pic.twitter.com/uq5EO4GAdB
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 17, 2021
With Tuchel, Chelsea defeated teams like Atletico Madrid, Porto as well as Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League to reach the final after 9 years.
TT also became the first manager to reach the final of the Champions League back-to-back. In the previous season, he took PSG to the final before becoming runner-up to Bayern Munich.
Before TT, Chelsea were 9th in the Premier League table, but with his managerial brilliance, he took this team to the FA Cup final, Champions League Final.
Not just that, his side finished 4th in the Premier League, which at the mid-way part, was unexpected.
With victories against both sides of Madrid, Chelsea were the underdog heading into the final against Manchester City.
Chelsea’s most expensive signing, mr. out-of-form Kai Havertz scored the only goal in the match to give the Blues their second Champions League title.
Sad Day For Pep
After nearly 6 years and more than 700m spent, Pep Guardiola is still unable to win the coveted Champions League title for City.
Having won both the Premier League as well as the Carabao Cup, everyone knew that Manchester City could win the treble.
But, the end result proved the critics and the fans wrong.
Pep Guardiola has been known to overthink in certain important matches and that’s what he did in the final.
Out of 60 games, he has played either Rodri or Fernandinho in the CDM position in 59 games.
The only game where neither were present from the start was the Champions League final.
This loss will surely haunt Pep for quite some time now but he looks set for next season with new signings and reinforcements.
The Champions League final of the 20/21 season will always be a sad day for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.
