Chelsea beat Man City, claim Champions League glory: How social media reacted

Chelsea have been crowned Champions League champions for the first time in almost a decade after beating Man City 1-0 in the 2020-21 final.

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Thomas Tuchel’s side found success repeatedly and hit Man City on the break in Porto to claim their first Champions League since Didier Drogba’s heroics proved pivotal in Munich, against Bayern Munich, back in 2012. The two teams had only ever met in European competition once prior to tonight — that being the semifinals of the 1970-71 UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup, which saw Chelsea win both legs 1-0.

By the end of the evening, it was the Blues who once again ran out the victors.

Here’s how social media reacted to the 66th Champions League final as Chelsea sealed the deal in Portugal.

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Pep Guardiola surprised many people with his unorthodox starting XI.

Over in the Chelsea camp, coach Tuchel raised eyebrows by naming two reserve goalkeepers and two left-backs on his bench while leaving Christian Pulisic on the bench and Tammy Abraham — the club’s joint-top goal scorer this season — out of the picture entirely.

The Blues were delivered a motivational message by a true club legend in Didier Drogba, a man who knows a thing or two about what it takes to win the Champions League.

Despite attendance at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao being limited due to social distancing restrictions, supporters of both clubs made the trip from England to Portugal so they could watch the game however, and wherever, they could.

Inside the stadium, the 16,500 attendees created the type of atmosphere that has been sorely missed inside football grounds the world over this season.

The story of the game

10th minute: The first clear chances of the game all fell to the feet of Timo Werner, but unfortunately those feet were caught fairly leaden as the German forward came up short not once, not twice, but thrice in quick succession.

The first opening came with just 10 minutes on the clock, but Werner could muster only an air-kick after Kai Havertz did well to cut the ball back to his compatriot inside the City area.

14th minute: Chelsea fans were then forced to watch on as Werner spurned two more chances back-to-back, sending a tame shot straight at Ederson before rippling the side netting less than a minute later.

28th minute: Man City carved out their first opening as Kevin De Bruyne cut a square pass into the path of Phil Foden, only for the young midfielder (who turned 21 the day before the final) to have his effort snubbed out at source by a brilliant Antonio Rudiger block.

39th minute: Thiago Silva’s night came to a premature end just before half-time after the Chelsea centre-back’s groin went ping, forcing the 36-year-old off the field.

42nd minute: GOAL! CHELSEA LEAD! The opening goal came just before the break after Kai Havertz chose the most opportune moment to open his Champions League scoring account.

The lightning-quick move was launched by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from inside his own box, and just six touches later (including a beautiful defence-splitting pass from Mason Mount), Havertz rolled the ball into an empty net having skipped past Ederson to leave himself in the clear.

Game on.

Half-time: Manchester City 0, Chelsea 1

55th minute: Ten minutes after the restart, Kevin De Bruyne saw his night end early after a heavy collision with Antonio Rudiger left the German facing a caution and the Belgian nursing a particularly nasty black eye.

58th minute: This injury led to City finally bringing on a striker, though it wasn’t Sergio Aguero who emerged from the bench to make his final stand for the club. Instead, it was Gabriel Jesus who came on to replace the groggy De Bruyne.

64th minute: Fernandinho then came on to make his 350th appearance for City, with Bernardo Silva making way.

66th minute: Timo Werner was the next player to see his number come up over on the touchline as Christian Pulisic came on for Chelsea, becoming the first U.S. player to appear in a Champions League final in the process.

73rd minute: Pulisic then almost became the first U.S. player to score in a Champions League final too, but the forward was unable to put the finishing touch to Havertz’s excellent buildup play.

77th minute: Having managed just one attempt on target, City were in desperate need of something and thus turned to their all-time top goal scorer. Aguero, in his last appearance for the club, was summoned from the bench to replace Raheem Sterling.

However, while City fans dreamed of a repeat of Aguero’s title-clinching goal vs. QPR circa 2012, there was no fairy-tale ending for Aguero this time as the Argentinian striker barely had a sniff of the ball in the closing stages.

This was despite a massive seven-minute wedge of injury time being added on by the referee.

97th minute: Instead, it was Riyad Mahrez who came closest to poaching a dramatic stoppage-time winner for City, only for his 97th-minute Hail Mary effort to sail agonisingly over the crossbar.

Full-time: Manchester City 0, Chelsea 1

And so, Chelsea were left to lift the trophy as the ticker tape rained down at the Estadio do Dragao.

Amid the pandemonium, some noticed eerily familiar parallels between the Blues’ twin triumphs of 2012 and 2021 despite the nine-year gap between them.

Plenty of former Chelsea stars offered their congratulations, including a couple from the Champions League-winning class of 2012.

There was plenty of postmatch praise for N’Golo Kante, too, who has now added “Champions League winner” to an already stellar list of career accomplishments.

The French midfielder has won almost every single major league, continental and international honour available to him during his senior career — with just the European Championships left to conquer.

In a display of patriotism and pride, Pulisic celebrated Chelsea’s victory while wearing his USMNT gear.

Meanwhile, a thought was spared for Sergio Aguero, who called time on his incredibly illustrious City career in rather emotional circumstances.

The omens were not good for Guardiola and his first-time finalists, as the past seven clubs to make their Champions League final debut were beaten: Valencia in 2000, Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, Monaco in 2004, Arsenal in 2006, Chelsea in 2008, Tottenham in 2019 and Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain in 2020.