An all-English Champions League final will bring the domestic football season to a close this weekend before the European Championships begin.
Manchester City booked their first ever tilt at the title with a 4-1 aggregate victory over PSG in the semi-final, and will face Chelsea after they overcame Real Madrid 3-1.
They will meet at Estadio do Dragao in Porto, which replaced Istanbul after Turkey moved onto the UK’s travel red list, with Portugal one of a handful of green list destinations.
It means that 6,000 fans from each team are allowed to make the trip, with the vast majority having to watch on TV from the UK – so it’s fortunate that you’ll be able to tune in for free.
How to watch the Champions League final free
The 2021 Champions League final is taking place on Saturday 29 May, with kick-off at 8.00pm.
BT Sport has shown the final for free in the UK since they won the rights to broadcast the Champions League from the 2015-16 season.
So while the match will be broadcast on TV on BT Sport 1, with coverage beginning at 6.00pm, there will also be a free live stream on the BT Sport app and BTSport.com, as well as on BT Sport’s YouTube channel here.
Man City vs Chelsea: Predicted line-ups
Manchester City squad in full
Goalkeepers: Ederson, Scott Carson, Zack Steffen, James Trafford
Defenders: Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Joao Cancelo, Eric Garcia
Midfielders:Ilkay Gundogan, Rodrigo, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ferran Torres
Forwards: Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden
Predicted XI to face Chelsea: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; Fernandinho, Rodri, Bernardo; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden
Chelsea squad in full
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Willy Caballero
Defenders: Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma, Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Emerson
Midfielders: Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Billy Gilmour, Tino Anjorin
Forwards: Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Olivier Giroud, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz
Predicted XI to face Man City: Mendy; Rudiger, Silva, Azpilicueta; Chilwell, Jorginho, Kante, James; Mount, Pulisic; Werner
What can you expect from the Champions League final?
Kevin Garside, Chief Sports Correspondent
Porto is for Manchester City the gateway to another realm, a dimension that is host to the great institutions of the game.
The Champions League final against Chelsea is framed entirely around City’s quest to move among the grand houses of European football, to shed the inferiority complex that has held them back since the petrodollars rolled into east Manchester more than a decade ago.
Ideally City would be smashing Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich to smithereens in the Estadio do Dragao to rubber stamp their elevation with the scalp of an historic power. Instead Chelsea bring them back to the domestic arena, robbing the fixture of its exotica and introducing the prospect of an ambush against a familiar foe.
Two of City’s Champions League defeats in the past three years came at the hands of domestic rivals, Liverpool and Spurs. They were ties City were expected to win, but somehow got sucked into the drama of the local dispute despite the altered European context.
City carry forward, too, the memory of recent defeats to Chelsea, twice in the space of three weeks in April and early May, once in the FA Cup at Wembley and again at the Etihad in the league. At least here they meet on foreign turf, which ought to dilute the local flavour a little if not the intensity.
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel fits well into the spoiler category, a devotee of the Pep Guardiola method, a passionate figure flush with the same mania for detail and micro-management. Guardiola is unlikely to outwit his disciple or surprise him. It will come down to the quality of the players and their ability to execute. And, as always, providence.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3fLs1rS
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