Chelsea were crowned the Champions League winners for the second time as they beat Manchester City 1-0 in Saturday’s final clash in Porto.
The blues through Kai Havertz goal shattered Pep Guardiola’s dream of lifting the trophy for the third time, a decade on from his last triumph.
Havertz rounded Ederson to score three minutes before half-time at the Estadio do Dragao and the Chelsea players ran to the far end of the pitch to celebrate with the German.
Cityzens were left to rue the departure of gun midfielder Kevin De Bruyne mid-way through the second half in Porto after a body check by Antonio Rudiger saw him taken off under concussion protocols.
He was left in tears and replaced in the 60th minute by Gabriel Jesus, while Sergio Aguero didn’t enter the game in the last decoration of his City career until the 77th minute.
But the Argentinian couldn’t rescue Guardiola’s side, who dominated possession but failed to create clear-cut chances as Thomas Tuchel’s stunning Chelsea turnaround was completed.
The German manager took over from Frank Lampard in January with Chelsea sitting ninth on the Premier League table.
On Saturday, May 29, Chelsea became Champions League winners for the first time since 2011-12, and just days after they clinched a top-four spot on the Premier League table, 19 points behind City.
City have had to wait 13 years since being taken over by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour just to get to the Champions League final.
They are now the seventh 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.