Champions League Final: What You Need to Know Manchester City is chasing first European club soccer

Chelsea and Manchester City, two deep-pocketed titans of England’s Premier League, will play for the biggest prize in European soccer on Saturday when they meet in the Champions League final in Porto, Portugal.

Chelsea, a serial collector of titles and trophies since 2003, has won the competition once before, in 2012. Manchester City, a club that only in the last decade emerged from the long shadow of its more famous (and much more decorated) neighbor, Manchester United, is playing in the final for the first time.

That unfamiliarity may bring some nerves, and some intrigue. But new faces or old, everyone will head into the final with eyes wide open about the stakes.

“If you win, you’re a hero,” Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said this week. “If you lose, you’re almost a failure.”

What time is the game?
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern. Unlike some kickoff times, that one should be pretty accurate.

How can I watch?
The game will be broadcast in the United States by CBS Sports and on the Paramount+ streaming app. If you prefer commentary in Spanish, go to Univision or the TUDN app.

If you are anywhere else in the world, check this comprehensive list of broadcast partners on UEFA’s website, which includes everything from RMC Sport (France) to Qazsport (Kazakhstan) to the magnificently named Silk Sport (Georgia).

Will there be fans inside the stadium?
Yes. Each club received an allotment of 6,000 tickets to the game, and organizers said the crowd would be limited to 16,500 — well short of the 50,000-seat capacity of Porto’s Estádio do Dragão.

Chelsea returned 800 of its tickets, with its fans angrily claiming that onerous UEFA rules had “intentionally prevented” eager supporters from traveling.

Manchester City, on the other hand, announced this week that its owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Abu Dhabi royal and the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, had graciously picked up the travel tab for everyone.

What was the mood been like this week?
Tariq Panja of The Times sent along this dispatch from Porto on Friday:

Fans from England started arriving in small numbers throughout the week, and by Friday afternoon parts of the city were thronged by supporters of the two teams.

A large group of Manchester City supporters became an attraction of sorts for locals as they drank beer and sang songs in the sunshine in the bars that lined one bank of the Douro river, one of the city’s main tourist spots.

The fans were being closely watched by the Portuguese police, which the night before had to intervene when some visitors became frustrated by local coronavirus restrictions that forced bars and restaurants to close by 10:30 p.m.

For many of the English visitors, the trip to Porto was the first time away from their country since its recent reopening after one of Europe’s longest lockdowns.

Tell me something I can say to sound smart today.
“Buying Rúben Dias changed everything for Manchester City, giving Pep Guardiola the quality he needed on defense to support that offense while it purrs along.”

“Sure, Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic can become the first American to play in the Champions League final today. But he won’t be the first American to win it: That honor belongs to Jovan Kirovski, with Dortmund in 1997.”

 Champions League Final: Pregame Reads

1 Pep Guardiola and the Ones That Got Away
One of soccer’s most successful coaches hasn’t been to the Champions League final in a decade. But as Manchester City meets Chelsea, he has a chance to reclaim the trophy he values most.

2 The Game of Tomorrow, Today
Seismic shocks to European soccer’s landscape have turned Saturday’s Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea into a sign of things to come.

3 Champions League Is Considering a Final Four in One City
The Champions League final is the biggest day on the European soccer calendar. But what if it was a week instead?

4 Manchester City Gets One Step Closer to Its Ultimate Purpose
With a win over Paris St.-Germain, City worked past some demons and headed to the Champions League final.

Manchester City vs. Chelsea: 2021 Champions League final bold predictions, live stream, how to watch online
What will be the key tactical battles and players that will decide the Champions League final?

The biggest prize in club football will be decided on Saturday. And then, after the Championship playoff final ends with one of either Brentford or Swansea City earning their spot on the Premier League gravy train, there will be the small matter of crowning Europe's best team. Chelsea and Manchester City have been perhaps the two best teams in Europe since the start of 2021, particularly since the former changed manager, and their meetings so far this season have been nothing if not tactically absorbing contests.

Guardiola shows Tuchel something different
It is only natural that the build-up to Saturday's final should be dominated by talk of the last two meetings between these sides. Twice in the last six weeks Thomas Tuchel and Pep Guardiola have matched wits and on both occasions, tactically and in the final scoreline, it has been the Chelsea manager who has got the better of Manchester City.

Doubtless that will give a fillip to the Chelsea dressing room in the Estadio do Dragao ahead of kick-off but neither side seems to be getting too carried away with what happened in the previous meetings. Asked by CBS Sports what he had learned from his previous meetings with Saturday's opponents, Guardiola's answer was brief "How good they are. Congratulations on the two victories. We will see you on Saturday." He betrayed no fear, quite the opposite. Guardiola is not alone in feeling that way. There has been an ease around the City camp in the build-up that suggests those other two games count for very little in their mind.

Raheem Sterling summed it up as well as anyone. "The more you win things, the happier the team morale is and I think the boys have been brilliant this year," he said. "We have another opportunity in the final against Chelsea to create something special again. As I said, once you win trophies, you just want to win more so hopefully that carries on into the weekend."

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That ease may just come from one simple truth. Guardiola and his players know that Chelsea have beaten a City team but perhaps not this City team, the one that will take to the pitch on Saturday at full strength and in its best system. In the other two recent games between these two you could sense that the English champions were just holding something back, not giving away their full plan. That was particularly evident in the Premier League fixture that came after both sides' wins in their Champions League semifinals.

On that day Guardiola effectively matched systems with Chelsea, using a back three of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones. In possession the look and feel of it was not that dissimilar to how City attack from their more standard shapes: a three man defense, the duo of Rodri and Joao Cancelo further ahead and five players free to do what they do best in the final third. Yet in personnel terms it is hard to imagine that quintet will include Benjamin Mendy, Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres from the off, even if their manager does have a habit of springing surprises in the biggest games.

Even in an FA Cup semifinal, with the chance to win an unprecedented English quadruple on the line, Guardiola did without the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Ederson whilst playing a two-man midfield shield of Rodri and Fernandinho. That rather limited City's ability to hem Chelsea in with their press, something they did with great efficacy against Paris Saint-Germain in the second half of the semifinal first leg. That was this team operating at peak efficiency with all its key cogs in position. Tuchel's side have not seen that yet. No wonder City are in such relaxed mood.

Kante proves to be Chelsea's key attacking weapon
Breaking that press proved to be beyond PSG in the semifinal but then they did not have a midfielder as dynamic as N'Golo Kante. Often narrowly defined by what he can do without the ball this season's Champions League has been a reminder of the damage the France international can do to opposing defenses.

Against Real Madrid in particular, Kante was the release valve that allowed Chelsea to break the spells of possession built up by the Spanish giants and swiftly turn defense into attack. According to Opta's sequencing data no player moved the ball further per possession than the 30-year-old, who advanced the ball an average of 26.7 meters towards goal in the second leg. One would hardly confuse him for Kevin De Bruyne in the final third but he still ended that game with three chances created, more than any of his teammates.

This has been the year of front-footed Kante, particularly under Tuchel. His action bins above show a player with greater license to roam upfield, particularly into the right channel where he led so many of the counter-attacking charges against Real Madrid. He ranks 16th among all players in the competition for take-ons attempted with 30, only three fewer than Phil Foden. His 70 percent success rate is bettered by only one player above him in the rankings, Jens Cadjuste of Midtjylland.

At least in part that is because Jorginho has taken on the role of being a leader of Chelsea's defensive lines. "He asks me to organize the midfield, to be close every time, to have short connections with the other players so we can have a good balance from high," the Italian international told CBS Sports earlier this week.

The Italian and Kante have proven to be a strong match in the middle of Tuchel's 3-4-3. Whilst one is most comfortable sitting and distributing the other is rarely more effective than when he is able to move. "It is unbelievable, the energy [Kante] brings to the team," said Jorginho. "He gives everything he can, that's massive. He doesn't surprise me, I know him and train with him every day. I know his quality, his [best] positions."

If Chelsea are to replicate their successful gameplan from the FA Cup semifinal, rapid transitions will be key. Though in the league match the possession stakes were more equal at Wembley Tuchel's side, masters of keep ball for most of his reign, sat deep and looked to charge up the field with purpose, looking to unlock the pace of their frontline. Kante was at the heart of that and will be again if Chelsea are to be successful again in Porto.

If needed... Aguero haunts Chelsea one last time
Just one more game, Chelsea must be thinking, then we don't have to see him again. Sergio Aguero, the man who always raises his game against the Blues, will ride off into the sunset, Barcelona beckoning for Manchester City's greatest ever striker. 

He may not be the force he was but you suspect that won't stop everyone associated with Chelsea from clenching with nerves should the Argentine enter the pi