The magical season of football's top leagues has come to an end. But the big UEFA Champions League winner still needs to be determined. Spanish giants and La Liga winners Real Madrid are all set to take on Premier League’s runners-up Liverpool in the ultimate battle for the coveted trophy. This will be a rematch of their 2018 encounter where Real thrashed Liverpool 3-1 in Kyiv, Ukraine. It’s been nearly four years to that day but a lot has changed after those years.
English outfits Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea have upped their ante in this competition in recent years. It’s pretty evident from the fact that among the last three Champions League finals, two have been all-English finals. Last year in Porto, Chelsea and Manchester City locked horns against each other and Chelsea came out as the winner securing their second Champions League title after 2012.
Here’s what happened in last year’s Champions League final:
Havertz breaks the deadlock
The match was seen as a battle between Manchester City’s forwards and Chelsea’s defence. This was Chelsea’s second Champions League final while City was playing first time on the big stage. Since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel as Chelsea’s manager, their defence became strong enough for the opponents to break.
The game started with both the teams trying to take the early lead but no one came close. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola kept guiding his players from the line but all went in vain as Chelsea’s defence was not allowing the forwards to pass through. On the other hand, Chelsea’s forwards kept asking questions from City defenders and 42nd minute into the game Kai Havertz hit the net from a superb Mason Mount pass giving Chelsea a 1-0 lead.
De Bruyne injured, Chelsea clinch their second European title
In the second half of the final, Manchester City came well and launched an all-out attack. Everything went well for the next 15 minutes but as the clock struck 60 minutes, Kevin De Bruyne got involved in a nasty collision with Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger and suffered a blow on his face. De Bruyne left the pitch in tears and was substituted for Gabriel Jesus.
This was a big blow for City as they couldn’t make much from here while Chelsea’s defenders kept clearing the ball. The referee blew the whistle after injury time and Chelsea secured their second Champions League silverware after 2012.
