Chelsea on Saturday won the Champions League for the second time as a Kai Havertz goal secured a tense 1-0 victory over Manchester City in Porto, shattering Pep Guardiola’s dream of lifting the trophy for the third time.
Havertz rounded Ederson to score three minutes before halftime at the Estadio do Dragao and the Chelsea players ran to celebrate with the German.
Coach Thomas Tuchel, full of energy on the touchline just like his opposite number, punched the air in celebration, and later jumped with joy on the pitch after Chelsea held on for victory in the second half after City lost distraught skipper Kevin De Bruyne to injury.
Photo: AFP
The London club finished fourth in the Premier League, a huge 19 points behind champions City, but this, remarkably, was their third win over Guardiola’s side in six weeks.
They ended City’s hopes of a domestic treble when they triumphed in the FA Cup semi-finals last month and delayed their title celebrations with victory in Manchester.
In a final watched by a limited crowd of more than 14,000 fans, who created a raucous atmosphere, they have denied City the first Champions League crown they and Guardiola so crave.
“It was an incredibly tough fight, what a fight. Today they were determined to win this. We wanted to be the stone in their shoe,” Tuchel told BT Sport.
“The effort was huge. We overcame some difficult moments and had a fantastic attitude to defending,” he added.
City had to wait 13 years after being taken over by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour just to get to the Champions League final.
They are the eighth consecutive team to lose in their first appearance at this stage. The same misfortune befell Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain last year, as well as Tottenham Hotspur when they were beaten by Liverpool in the last all-English final in 2019.
“It is the first time we’re here, we’ll learn, we’ll come back,” Guardiola said.
Chelsea also lost when they first got to the final, on penalties against Manchester United in Moscow in 2008.
They overcame the final hurdle by beating Bayern Munich in a shoot-out in 2012, and they have their second European Cup to move level with Juventus, SL Benfica and Porto as well as another English side, Nottingham Forest.
Their transformation into one of Europe’s super clubs has been down to the riches of Roman Abramovich, their Russian oligarch owner who was in attendance in Portugal.
“It’s such a special occasion. At this moment in time, we’re the best team in the world. You can’t take that away from us,” said Mason Mount, who has been outstanding for the Stamford Bridge side this season.
Chelsea have been transformed since Tuchel was appointed as coach in January, but City were still the favorites after their third Premier League title triumph in four seasons.
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
RSS