JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
This is how we reached the final after the Champions League semi-final matches . It was another year with the virus covid19 may there be no more such games , which take place in such an intense time . Manchester City, who in recent years have stumbled in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in matches against theoretically weaker rivals, finally succeeded and is in the grand final of the Champions League can even win the European Cup. “The Citizens” in England regularly fight for the championship, but on the international stage of success have not achieved and they are lacking .This may change soon in the history of football
“The Citizens” is the ninth team from England to play in the Champions League final or the UEFA Europa League . Previously, teams such as : Liverpool FC, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Since the 1992/93 season, the Champions League era, five Premier League clubs have featured in the last game of the competition.
In the 11th minute, Ederson launched Zinchenko with a superb long pass, the latter rushed down the left and passed in front of the penalty area to Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian’s shot was blocked, but the ball found its way to Riyad Mahrez, who gave the hosts the lead.
PSG came close to equalising moments later, but in the 17th minute Marquinhos hit a header after a Di Maria pass, but it hit the crossbar. After 120 seconds, the Argentine missed an empty goal, failing to capitalise on Ederson’s exit.
18′ Ederson launched Bernardo Silva with a quick pass, but the latter immediately took the ball away from Di Maria. The Argentine’s shot from outside the penalty area missed by half a metre, although he had virtually the entire goal empty.
45’+2 Mahrez took a sharp right-footed shot from an acute angle, but Keylor Navas defended. Bernardo made the save, but his technical shot was palmed away by Presnel Kimpembe’s head and ended up just a corner kick.
54′ A powerful shot from distance by Foden, but the ball flew into the middle of the goal and Navas managed to deflect it away.
In turn, as it was already the 63rd minute Manchester City players launched a counterattack De Bruyne passed perpendicularly to the left side of the penalty area to Phil Foden, he played to the far post, where Mahrez had an empty goal in front of him.
69′ Extremely boorish behaviour from Di Maria. The Argentine was already arguing with Fernandinho behind the sideline and at one point… stepped on his rival’s ankle very hard. Kuipers immediately showed him a red card and still checked the situation with VAR, but there was actually no point.
Yet an attacking attempt in the 77th minute by The Citizens certainly didn’t whet the appetite of Pep Guardiola’s charges with two goals. Post! It was Phil Foden who shot marginally off target from outside the penalty area. Keylor Navas could have netted for the third time in the return leg and the fifth time in two matches.
At the end of the match, things got hot and tense again as the teams began to foul each other, with Presnel Kimpembe receiving a yellow card in the 87th minute for a very sharp tackle on Gabriel Jesús.
PSG still tried to score, but in the 88th minute Moise Kean passed to Neymar. The Brazilian again could not find space to shoot and decided to pass to the positioned Marquinhos.
For this, in the 89th minute, the Yellow card was given to Danilo Pereira for clashing with an opponent.
At the end of the first half, Guardiola’s entire team defended skilfully against the Parisians with high pressing.
The Champions League between Manchester City and Chelsea FC will be the third final against English teams. Manchester City will be playing for the first time in its history for this European Cup. So far it has only one continental trophy ” Cup Winners Cup ” from 1970. The Champions League final will take place on 29 May in Istanbul, Turkey at the Ataturk Stadium against Chelsea of London .
Pep Guardiola, after several years of failure, will finally face the chance to win the European Cup with Manchester City. It’s been a while since he won the trophy with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. In turn, he failed to win it with Bayern Munich. Maybe now he will win this amazing European trophy .
In the second match Chelsea FC – Real Madrid Londoners were superior on their own ground and advanced to the final of the Champions League, where they will play with Manchester City. In the return semi-final match, the London team beat Real Madrid 2:0 at home, with a 1:1 draw last week at the Santiago Bernabéu in Mdrita.
The Londoners came into the return match with a fairly favourable result from the first meeting, but Real seemed to be the favourites, if only because of their experience and success in these competitions. Meanwhile, the charges of coach Thomas Tuchel once again confirmed that they are doing very well in the current Champions League season.
Chelsea – Real Madryt 2:0 (1:0). (3:1)
Goals: Timo Werner (28), Mason Mount (85).
first game – 1:1; advancement – Chelsea.
Chelsea: Edouard Mendy – Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva, Antonio Ruediger – Cesar Azpilicueta (88. Reece James), N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell – Kai Havertz (90.+4 Olivier Giroud), Timo Werner (67. Christian Pulisic), Mason Mount (89. Hakim Ziyech).
Real: Thibaut Courtois – Nacho Fernandez, Eder Militao, Sergio Ramos, Ferland Mendy (63. Federico Valverde) – Toni Kroos, Casemiro (76. Rodrygo), Luka Modric – Vinicius Junior (63. Marco Asensio), Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard (89. Mariano Diaz).
Manchester City – Paris Saint Germain 2:0 ( 4-1)
Goals : Mahrez (11′, 63`)
Di María Czerwona kartka: (69′)
first game : 2:1 advancement : Manchester City.
Manchester City: Ederson – Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Ołeksandr Zinczenko – Bernardo Silva (82. Raheem Sterling), Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan – Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne (82. Gabriel Jesus), Phil Foden (85. Sergio Aguero)
PSG: Keylor Navas – Alessandro Florenzi (75. Colin Dagba), Marquinhos, Presnel Kimpembe, Abdou Diallo (83. Mitchel Bakker) – Ander Herrera (62. Julian Draxler), Leandro Paredes (75. Danilo) – Angel Di Maria, Marco Verratti, Neymar – Mauro Icardi (62. Moise Kean)
