Porto awaits Chelsea, Man City all you need to know

Chelsea stands between Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and their most coveted trophy since the Abu Dhabi take over 13 years ago, Chelsea though won’t be a push over as they have been revigorated since the appointment of new manager Thomas Tuchel.

This will be the second all English final in 3 years after Liverpool and Tottenham in 2019, and the third all English final in history, Chelsea was involved in the first in 2008 loosing to Alex Ferguson Manchester united that time.

This fixture is between two club that has been bought and transformed by two mega rich foreigner, Chelsea by Russia billionaire Roman Abramovich, and Manchester City by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour. This has made the Premier League one of the most exciting football league in the world.

The only previous final encounter between these two was in 1986 in the defunct Members Cup, with Chelsea prevail then by 5-4 at Wembley.

Chelsea became a name to reckon with after the take over by Roman Abramovich in 2003, they started spending big, bringing in big name player and Jose Mourinho who helped them to their first Premier League title. Chelsea went on to win the Champions League in 2012 against Bayern Munich at their home turf. Chelsea have also won the Europa League twice since the take over with the most recent been a 4-1 victory over arsenal in 2019.

Manchester city have also had huge success since Sheikh Mansour take dominanting the English Premier League since it take over. Manchester city has won 3 Premier League title in the past 4 years. But the Champions League has eluded them, the closest they have come was the semi final last year loosing to PSG.

Guardiola who is hoping to win his third Champions League 10 years after his last triumph with Barcelona said; “We are quite a similar team to what we were in the past when we were knocked out. The margins and little details this year fell down on our side whereas before it was the opposite.”

Chelsea have had the upper hand in recent encounter between these two teams, victorious over Manchester City twice in the past six weeks winning in the FA Cup semi and then in the league at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola said he couldn’t expect a tougher opponent.

Chelsea, were also given a fitness boost as goal keeper Edouard Mendy and mid-field stalwart N’Golo Kante returned to training on Wednesday.

STATS
According to skysports pundit Paul Merson Chelsea need to be more clinical if they are to come out victorious with their forward players struggling in front of goal recently.

It is not far fetched why English clubs have dominated European football recently. Looking at their transfer spending you won’t be surprised

Players from English league have also dominated the Fifpro XI in recent years.

Journey to the Final

Chelsea
Chelsea came out top of group E winning 4 and drawing 1 in a group that included Sevilla, Krasnodar, and Rennes.
Chelsea went on to beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 on aggregate in the round of 16.
The defeated FC Porto 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter finals, before beating Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Manchester City
Manchester City came out tops of group C which included FC Porto, Olympiacos, and Marseille.
Going on to beat Borussia Moncheglabch 4-0 in the round of 16.
They beat another German side in the quarter-finals triumphing over Borussia Dortmund 4-2 on aggregate, before beating PSG 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Chelsea squad: Mendy, Arrizabalaga, Caballero, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Silva, Rudiger, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Pulisic, Werner, , Zouma, Kovacic, Giroud, Mount, Chilwell, Ziyech, Gilmour, James, Havertz, Palmieri, Anjorin.

Man City squad: Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Trafford, Walker, Cancelo, Ake, Stones, Laporte, Garcia, Zinchenko, Mendy, Rodri, Gundogan, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Foden, Sterling, Mahrez, Silva, Torres, Jesus, Aguero.

El stadio Dragao in Porto, Portugal will be hosting this year’s final after it was moved from the original host Turkey due to the COVID-19 situation there and English fans not been able to attend.