Chelsea beats City 1-0, wins Champions League for 2nd time
PORTO, Portugal (AP) — Chelsea won the Champions League for the second time Saturday, beating Manchester City 1-0 thanks to Kai Havertz’s first-half goal as Pep Guardiola’s overthinking proved costly again in the all-English final.
Havertz ran onto Mason Mount’s through-ball and skipped by City goalkeeper Ederson Moraes before slotting the ball into an empty net in the 42nd minute.
Chelsea added to the first European Cup it won in 2012 and become the 13th multiple winner of the world’s biggest club competition. Manager Thomas Tuchel got his hands on the trophy a year after losing in the 2020 final with Paris Saint Germain.
City’s long, often-painful and lavishly funded journey to the summit of European soccer remains incomplete and Guardiola might regret tinkering with his settled team by choosing to not start a specialist holding midfielder.
It destabilized City, which was unrecognizable from the team that has largely dominated English soccer this season, winning the Premier League and the English League Cup.