For the third time in the Champions League history, two English club will face off against each other in the final.
Chelsea will go head-to-head against Manchester City.
This will be the third time Chelsea will be making an appearance in the final. They have won once and lost once till date.
Manchester City will enter their first final of the UEFA Champions League in their history. They have only managed to reach the Semi-finals once.
Thomas Tuchel, who is currently managing the Chelsea side will play his second Champions League final in a row, but with two different clubs.
In the 2019/20 season, he as well as his current Chelsea player Thiago Silva took PSG to their first final appearance.
However, the score was not in favor of the German.
Tuchel looks to change his history and become the first manager to win Champions League title after appearing twice in two successive years.
How Did They Reach Here?
Chelsea:
Chelsea topped their group E with fourteen points. Out of six games, they won four while drawing just two.
The Blues conceded just two goals the entire group stage while simultaneously scoring fourteen.
In the Round of 16, Chelsea went up against current La Liga champions Atletico Madrid and comfortably beat them with an aggregate score of 3-0.
The Quarter-finals, however, seemed a little difficult as they went up against Porto. In paper, it seemed a tight match.
However, when the match started, it was all Chelsea. They beat Porto with an aggregate score of 2-1 and booked their place in the semi-finals.
During the semis, Thomas Tuchel faced the other half of Madrid in the form of Real Madrid. Everyone thought that this will be the end of the road for the Blues.
But, the boys from London proved everyone wrong.
Chelsea beat Real Madrid with a score of 3-1 from both legs and were through to the finals of the UEFA Champions League.
This will be their first appearance in the final since they last won in the 2012 against Bayern.
Manchester City:
Manchester City started their campaign from group C, where they finished first with sixteen points.
They won five games and drew just once while scoring fifteen and conceding just a single goal in six games.
In the Round of 16 they faced German side Borussia Munchengladbach and beat them 4-0 to progress further.
Similarly, Man City went to the other side of Borussia to face Dortmund in the Quarter-Finals.
The whole world watched with eager intent as Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho went up against City.
The game, however, was won by City with the final score of 4-2.
In the semis, Pep Guardiola side went head-to-head against Paris Saint Germain, the “oil-money derby”.
ManCity have never progressed further than the Quarters during the era of Pep Guardiola and everyone thought that this would be the end of their journey.
PSG fielded their strongest lineup which included the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
However, those two simply didn’t show their true quality as they failed to score against the tight City’s defence.
Manchester City comfortably beat them 4-1 and booked their slot in the final against Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola has already won two trophies this season; The Premier League and The Carabao Cup.
They are currently fighting for the prestigious “treble” and if they do complete this, they will be the second side in the Premier League to have done that.
Only the Red side of Manchester has won the coveted “treble” in their history, which included the Champions League.
Manchester City will play their first ever Champions League final and will look to win their first major European trophy under Pep Guardiola.
Possible Lineup
Both of these clubs have had to deal with injuries to one or more players. Chelsea recently had to substitute their goalkeeper Mendy as he suffered from a rib injury mid-way through the match.
Apart from Mendy, Ngolo Kante was also dealing with a hamstring injury and was ruled out for a number of matches.
However, Thomas Tuchel has been given a huge boost as everyone in the squad has been deemed as “fit-to-play”.
Which means, both Edouard Mendy and Ngolo Kante will start the final
As for Manchester City, it was recently rumoured that German midfielder Illkay Gundogan and Belgian sensation Kevin De Bruyne both suffered injury.
However, this doesn’t seem too serious so they will be making their entry into the squad.
Looking at everything, we believe that both sides will have the following lineup:
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, James, Kante, Kovacic, Chilwell, Mount, Havertz, Werner
ManCity: Ederson, Cancelo, Laporte, Dias, Mendy, Rodri, Silva, KDB, Sterling, Aguero, Mahrez
Respective League Stats
Manchester City have won the 20/21 season of the Premier League comfortably with eighty-six points.
They won a total of twenty-seven games, scoring eighty-three and conceding just thirty two.
As for Chelsea, they finished fourth in the league with sixty-seven points, scoring fifty-eight and conceding just thirty-six.
They have secured their place in the top four for two concecutive seasons.
Previous Meetings
This final will be the fourth time where Chelsea and Manchester City have faced against each other.
Manchester City have only beaten the Blues once in the Premier League.
Chelsea, however, have beaten them twice. Once in the Premier League and once in the FA Cup Semi-Finals.
Overall, Pep Guardiola has already lost twice to his former BvB counterpart Thomas Tuchel.
