Manchester City vs Chelsea Will Be The Third All-English Final
Manchester City and Chelsea will face each other on May 29 in the Champions League final that will take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
This will be the third time in total that two Premier League sides feature in a final and the second time in two years.
The first time an all-English final took place was back in 2008, when Manchester United defeated Chelsea on penalties to lift the trophy.
Eleven years later, Liverpool beat Tottenham at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi.
There has been an all-Spanish final three times too, in 2000, 2014 and 2016, with Real Madrid beateing Valencia once and Atletico Madrid twice.
Two Bundesliga teams have featured in a final just once in 2013, when Jupp Heynckes’ Bayern Munich beat Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund 2-1.
A first for Manchester City
Manchester City will play a Champions League final for the first time in their history, while Chelsea have participated in three.
Pep Guardiola’s side are the ninth English team to have reached the major European tournament’s final after Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.
The Catalan coach has won the title twice in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona and, if he leads his team to victory in the final, he will match the figures of Carlo Ancelotti (two times with AC Milan and one with Real Madrid), Bob Paisley (three times with Liverpool) and Zinedine Zidane (three times with Real Madrid).
Guardiola also won the trophy as a player, when Barcelona beat Sampdoria in 1992 at Wembley.
For Thomas Tuchel, this will be his second consecutive final, after Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in last season’s decider.
