Saturday’s potential title-clinching clash at the Etihad for Manchester City, turned into a series of unfortunate events for the men in light blue, as the night ended 2-1 in Chelsea’s favour. Does this result foreshadow the possible future outcome of the 2021 Champions League final in Istanbul at the end of the month? We’ll just have to wait and see.
From having to wait for their title celebrations, missing a penalty and a stoppage time goal from Chelsea; Pep Guardiola’s tactics didn’t seem to match the persistence of Chelsea’s attack in the form of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic.
Raheem Sterling started off with a late goal in the first half, which was immediately followed by a penalty for City. The playmaker and number 1 star for City (in the absence of De Bruyne), Sergio Aguero stepped up to take the penalty- which he wasted with a Panenka shot with no power, safely into the hands of Chelsea’s keeper Eduoard Mendy. What could have been a steady 2-0 first half for City did not get better as Thomas Tuchel’s men came prepared for the second half with all guns blazing. Hakim Ziyech equalized in the 63rd minute, and the Chelsea attack continued to cause problems in the form of Reece James, Ziyech, Werner, Hudson-Odoi, while City had slowed down in terms of play. Once again, that tactic did not bode well to Guardiola’s favour as in the 92nd, Marcos Alonso ended the game after Timo Werner’s pin-point pass was powerfully lifted over City’s Ederson.
City didn’t have much to play for considering that they have already won the league and Pep Guardiola also seemed unfazed by the loss, as he mentioned in the post-match press conference, “We play Chelsea in 21 days. This game will be forgotten. In 21 days, we are going to face them again the Champions League final.” Clearly, Pep has secured one title and is raring to go as they take Chelsea on for Champions League silverware. Meanwhile, for Thomas Tuchel and his men in blue, this win was a huge morale booster as they sit third in the Premier League table and head to face Leicester in the FA Cup Final (another chance at silverware before the glory of Champions League). “With every minute we gained confidence and quality.We can rely on our team spirit, we keep going.”
Although fans went into this game mentally, hoping for a preview of what is to come in the Champions League final, it was clear that both managers will learn and improve from this game and step out in Istanbul with surprises- after all, we will be guaranteed champions quality football on May 29th!
