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Solid defense and high investment, all-English Champions League final
▶ Chelsea vs Man City
Lisbon, Portugal | XINHUA | The grand final of the UEFA Champions League takes place this Saturday at Dragao Stadium, in the city of Porto, north of Portugal, with the confrontation of two English clubs — Chelsea against Manchester City.
From south London, Chelsea seeks the second title in the most important tournament in European football, having won the first continental triumph in 2012.
After coming close to the cup last year, when it was runner-up at Paris Saint-Germain, German coach Thomas Tuchel tries his first win with the British club.
Even being considered an “underdog” even by the coach himself, Chelsea boasts good performance numbers this season, which accredit him to make a good confrontation with the favorite Manchester City.
The investment for the assembly of the cast reaches around 646.4 million euros (787.82 million U.S. dollars), in addition to five players formed in the grassroots categories.
While Chelsea’s investment has outstripped most clubs in the world, Manchester City’s investment has been astronomical, topping out at well over 1.5 billion euros.
This season’s campaign started with Chelsea winning Group E, with 14 points, in a brace that still contained Spaniard Sevilla, Russian Krasnodar, and French Rennes.
The London team achieved a series of four wins and two draws. In the round of 16, Chelsea faced the powerful Atletico Madrid and won with adjusted scores in the first leg 1-0 away and in the return game 2-0.
The quarterfinals took place between Chelsea and Porto, and the latter managed to remove the invincibility of the English side, who ended up qualifying 2-1 on aggregate.
The semifinal was against the favorite Real Madrid when Chelsea pulled a 1-1 draw in the first game and a 2-0 win in the decisive match.
The German coach has some concerns in the squad, as goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is in pain in the ribs and midfielder N’Golo Kante is still recovering from a thigh problem.
Should the two recover in time, Chelsea will likely go out to the field with Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, James, Kovacic, Kante, Chilwell, Mount, Werner and Havertz.
Originally scheduled for Turkey, the UEFA Champions League final was transferred to Portugal for the second consecutive year due to the country’s better conditions in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
