At long last, Manchester City have made it to the Champions League final – ever since their 2008 takeover, becoming the major force in Europe has been one of their main targets.
Achieving that goal is finally within their grasp, with Saturday s showpiece being the club’s first final in the competition.
For all the success during Sheikh Mansour s ownership, the Champions League has been the missing piece of the puzzle, a situation City set out to remedy in 2016 when they hired Pep Guardiola.
It is no surprise the Catalan coach has been the man to get them to the edge of glory, such is his pedigree and reputation, though it may have taken a little longer than some expected.
However, success in Porto on Saturday is by no means a foregone conclusion, with Thomas Tuchel s Chelsea standing in their way.
Ahead of the biggest match in European football, Stats Perform looks at the key Opta data…
It s week!
Who are you supporting on Saturday?
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
The Coaches
Much of the focus until now has been centred around the two coaches, whose situations are rather different.
While Guardiola may be taking charge of Champions League final newcomers, he of course has a stellar reputation in the competition and will become only the third manager to win it three times if City prevail – the others being Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane.
Tuchel, on the other hand, was here just last year in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, who were defeated in the final by Bayern Munich. He is already the first coach to reach successive Champions League/European Cup finals with different teams, while only Marcello Lippi and Hector Cuper have lost two in a row.
Nevertheless, Guardiola has lost more matches to Chelsea in all competitions across his managerial (seven) than any other club, including the past two.
Champions League-winning captains! ©
Who s next? |
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
The Records
City have already made history by getting this far, with this their first European final in 51 years since beating Gornik Zabrze 2-1 in the 1970 Cup Winners Cup final – it s the longest gap between finals for a team, beating the 41 years that Sporting CP chalked up between 1964 and 2005.
Another record in sight for City is Real Madrid s benchmark of 12 wins in a single Champions League campaign, with Guardiola s side on 11. However, Los Blancos haul is a little less impressive when you consider their 12 victories came from 17 matches – City have played 13 so far.
Although both clubs have become European mainstays this century, they have only actually played each other outside of domestic football once, meeting in the two-legged 1970-71 Cup Winners Cup semi-final when Chelsea won 2-0 on aggregate.
City s regularity in this competition has been impressive, though as previously mentioned it will be their first final, which means it will be the third year running that a new team contests the main event, following on from Tottenham and PSG – this last occurred from 1986 to 1988 when Steaua Bucharest, Porto and PSV contested finals.
The Star Names
As with any Champions League final, there will be an impressive array of quality on show, including Kevin De Bruyne, a former Chelsea player.
Along with Riyad Mahrez, the Belgian has scored in the quarter-final and semi-final this season. If they both net in the final, they will be the first duo to accomplish the impressive hat-trick since Real Madrid greats Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas in 1959-60.
Phil Foden s career trajectory already suggests this will not be his last European final, and if he is named in the starting XI he will be the third-youngest Englishman (21 years, one day) to start a Champions League decider after Owen Hargreaves (20y 123d) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (19y 231d in 2018 and 20y 237d in 2019).
Phil Foden is special. | |
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
Foden is also on the second-longest unbeaten run in Champions League history at 21 matches, a streak that stretches back to a defeat to Basel in March 2018.
And the longest unbeaten run in Champion League belongs to? That s right, another City player: Bernardo Silva. He hasn t lost in the competition since September 2018, a sequence of 26 appearances.
Sergio Aguero will play his final match for City should he make an appearance, and few would bet against that given he has scored 13 times against Chelsea, a record he has only bettered against Newcastle United.
Standing in City s way, however, will be Edouard Mendy – Chelsea hope. The Senegal international suffered a knock against Aston Villa and the Blues will be desperate for him to be make it given he has kept eight clean sheets in Europe this term. Only Santi Canizares and Keylor Navas have ever kept nine in a single campaign.
Edouard Mendy saves! Best here? | |
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
Another man who has been key to Chelsea s defensive solidity this term, particularly since Tuchel took over, is Thiago Silva. The Brazilian is set to become only the fifth player to feature in consecutive finals with different teams.
The others? Marcel Desailly (1993 Marseille, 1994 Milan), Paulo Sousa (1996 Juventus, 1997 Borussia Dortmund), Samuel Eto o (2009 Barcelona, 2010 Inter Milan) and Alvaro Morata (2014 Real Madrid, 2015 Juventus) – now there is a quiz question for you.
