Champions League Final 2021 - Man City 0-1 Chelsea

[chippy 342]

43 minutes ago, bigbluewillie said:

Some things never change...

At times like this makes me hate being English and a CFC supporter.

Fuck knows what they're going to get up to on match day, I mean Shitty as well. they've been in altercations with Manure fans since they got beat by Villareal.

Talk about Brits abroad, don't it just show the rest of the world we're like, they think we're all like this.

But it's not the Brits abroad, it's just the English morons who want a tear up once they've have a few beers down them.

We're too liberal and don't take violence seriously enough. If I had my way id bring in ID cards and take the passports away from any of the those cnuts who can be identified. On top of that I'd ban them from all pubs & clubs for a few years. You'd very quickly see a dramatic fall in violence, if such measure were introduced.

 

 

[King Kante 1,476]

1 hour ago, chippy said:

I cancelled my Sky subscription when they introduced PPV, because I felt it was a rip off paying for something twice. But a one off event which we only get to every now and then, is a bit different.

Back in 2012, Chelsea didn't sell out 4000 tickets for the semi final second leg at Barca, so this is not the first time our fanbase has been shown up.

Big following around the world, but the home support isn't what it could be.

A lot of Chelsea fans don't like going to Barca owing to the way you get treated there. I went to the one in 2005 with Frisk and this is what happened: 

1) Forced into the ground around 1.5 hours before kick off

2) Forced to stay in the ground for 2 hours after full time. 

3) Given the most rigorous pat down before going into the ground

4) Saw people getting whacked with batons for having a hip flask (which was promptly thrown into the bin, even though the bloke was saying it was a present or for standing somewhere that the police did not want you to, but hadn't bothered to put up signs for. 

5) Stuck up in the heavens so watching the game is pretty crap.

I have been to around 15 away destinations in Europe and Barca is the one place I have refused to ever go again owing to dire treatment. 

Edited May 28, 2021 by King Kante

[Azul 1,615]

I was thinking about how Man City can stop us and Kyle Walker is key in stopping Timo Werner. They will nullify Werner's pace, unless Tuchel fools Guardiola and plays him on the right instead. I'd rather Timo vs Zinchenko to be honest.

Walker vs Mount is a better matchup in my opinion, because Walker is defensively not sound. He just has raw pace but when he faces someone with the dribbling of Mount, he struggles.

I hope Tuchel pulls off a masterclass and does that.

[chippy 342]

10 minutes ago, King Kante said:

A lot of Chelsea fans don't like going to Barca owing to the way you get treated there. I went to the one in 2005 with Frisk and this is what happened: 

1) Forced into the ground around 1.5 hours before kick off

2) Forced to stay in the ground for 2 hours after full time. 

3) Given the most rigorous pat down before going into the ground

4) Saw people getting whacked with batons for having a hip flask (which was promptly thrown into the bin, even though the bloke was saying it was a present or for standing somewhere that the police did not want you to, but hadn't bothered to put up signs for. 

5) Stuck up in the heavens so watching the game is pretty crap.

I have been to around 15 away destinations in Europe and Barca is the one place I have refused to ever go again owing to dire treatment. 

Yes, to be fair that sounds pretty terrible. 

I've seen the views from high up in the away section, and as someone who has a big fear heights, there's no way I'd sit up there. Looked not only very high, but quite steep too which makes it look even more scary for a whimp like me.

[milka 3,346]

 

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours ago, DDA said:

I'm bloody dreading it.

Best course of action is probably 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst'. 

[chippy 342]

For us to win. I think its just going to be a case of the luck going for us, like it did in the recent league game. 

Against their strongest 11 this time, Can't see us scoring more than one goal, so a lot will depend on them missing a good few chances and Mendy making saves.

So, a gritty but lucky one goal win for uu or a fairly easy win for them.

[Superblue 6,370]

5 minutes ago, chippy said:

For us to win. I think its just going to be a case of the luck going for us, like it did in the recent league game. 

Against their strongest 11 this time, Can't see us scoring more than one goal, so a lot will depend on them missing a good few chances and Mendy making saves.

So, a gritty but lucky one goal win for uu or a fairly easy win for them.

I have a similar feeling. I think if the game is tight, and stays tight I fancy our chances to grind the result out as I think we would grow in confidence whereas they may wane. 

However I think if they score early and we're having to chase, it could be a bit of a hammering.

Similar to yourself, I don't see us scoring more than a goal or two so we need to keep things tight. However we have created chances all season and there should be gaps behind to exploit at times during the game, it just goes back to the story of our season and our lack of a clinical edge to our game. It would be incredibly ironic given our struggles converting chances to goals this season, if it just "clicked" in the game where it matters the most. 

[chippy 342]

29 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I have a similar feeling. I think if the game is tight, and stays tight I fancy our chances to grind the result out as I think we would grow in confidence whereas they may wane. 

However I think if they score early and we're having to chase, it could be a bit of a hammering.

Similar to yourself, I don't see us scoring more than a goal or two so we need to keep things tight. However we have created chances all season and there should be gaps behind to exploit at times during the game, it just goes back to the story of our season and our lack of a clinical edge to our game. It would be incredibly ironic given our struggles converting chances to goals this season, if it just "clicked" in the game where it matters the most. 

Agreed!

Part of what makes football such a great game is, one team can be clearly  better than the other,  be clearly better on the day but still end up losing the game. 

We should never have got through against Barca, but the lads fought like their lives depended on it and look what happened in the end.

I'm the world's worst predictor and gambler, but I reckon the odds are about 60/40 in favour of City, but 40% is still a pretty good chance.

 

[King Kante 1,476]

Personally, I see a 3-0 or a 3-1 City win, with us fluffing a number of chances before City get their 3rd. 

[milka 3,346]

 

[Milan 17,853]

 

[Superblue 6,370]

1 hour ago, chippy said:

Agreed!

Part of what makes football such a great game is, one team can be clearly  better than the other,  be clearly better on the day but still end up losing the game. 

We should never have got through against Barca, but the lads fought like their lives depended on it and look what happened in the end.

I'm the world's worst predictor and gambler, but I reckon the odds are about 60/40 in favour of City, but 40% is still a pretty good chance.

 

People have questioned the mentality of this group and coping with pressure after losing the cup final and making a meal out of our league run in.

However two games which were massive pressure games were the second leg against Real Madrid and the league game against Leicester which I think considering the circumstances of both games were possibly our best two games this season. If we play like we did in either of those games (the mistake for Leicester's goal aside) then I do believe we have a good chance tomorrow.

We may not need to play the perfect game to win, but everyone will need to play to the top end of their capabilities.

 

[Beigl 1,387]

They might be the better, more experienced team on paper and are favourites for the final, but I still fancy our chances. They are a good side, granted, but so are we and if anything I believe their style of play fits our strengths so its no coincidence we beat them two times the last couple of months. IF our defence plays like against Real Madrid we have a good chance of winning the game tomorrow. Sadly Christensen got this injury some weeks ago, I think we would have been much more solid at the back with him. Maybe he plays tomorrow, but I doubt it. 

If we survive their early pressure and hit them on the counter we have chances.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Beigl

[ZAPHOD2319 4,477]

I was watching ESPN FC yesterday.... slow day. The guy they use to report on the Italian leagues is always reasonable and never over the top. He was asked who he sees winning this final. He said 51% City, 49% Chelsea. Both teams can beat the best teams and lose to the worst. Said Chelsea are not underdogs in this final, both deserve to be here.

 

ESPN will probably have a chat with him about giving level headed responses.

[Strike 7,217]

1 hour ago, Superblue_1986 said:

People have questioned the mentality of this group and coping with pressure after losing the cup final and making a meal out of our league run in.

However two games which were massive pressure games were the second leg against Real Madrid and the league game against Leicester which I think considering the circumstances of both games were possibly our best two games this season. If we play like we did in either of those games (the mistake for Leicester's goal aside) then I do believe we have a good chance tomorrow.

We may not need to play the perfect game to win, but everyone will need to play to the top end of their capabilities.

 

Sarri questioned this squad's mentality and then Lampard did too. Its a huge credit to Tuchel that in the last few months - there has been very little talk about mentality (other than after the FA Cup final) because his team has players willing to run themselves to the ground everywhere on the field - Mason, Kante, Rudiger, James, Chilwell, Werner. The quality, especially in attack, is frustratingly bad but I have quiet confidence that the team will turn up hungry to press City all over the pitch tomorrow just like the Madrid and Leicester games. It doesn't guarantee a win but it is suited to knockout football and even if City are slight favorites, this is so different from 2012. Chelsea is going into the final with a decent chance of winning.

[cosmicway 1,323]

It cannot be denied that this City team is better than the City of previous years but they 're not going to find it easy.
United who finished seven points are head of us were crap yesterday (the match was a second division affair) so the finishing positions in the league table don't tell the truth.
Also they may be lucky or we may be lucky. This match is a black box really.

 

[Superblue 6,370]

56 minutes ago, Strike said:

Sarri questioned this squad's mentality and then Lampard did too. Its a huge credit to Tuchel that in the last few months - there has been very little talk about mentality (other than after the FA Cup final) because his team has players willing to run themselves to the ground everywhere on the field - Mason, Kante, Rudiger, James, Chilwell, Werner. The quality, especially in attack, is frustratingly bad but I have quiet confidence that the team will turn up hungry to press City all over the pitch tomorrow just like the Madrid and Leicester games. It doesn't guarantee a win but it is suited to knockout football and even if City are slight favorites, this is so different from 2012. Chelsea is going into the final with a decent chance of winning.

I think a large part is the mentality of Tuchel. 

Lampard in particular, but also Sarri would regularly downplay the squad and their current level and ability to compete.

Tuchel came in and immediately said this squad was good enough to compete. It put pressure on himself, but it was a massive decision to install confidence into this squad that they are good enough to compete.

Ultimately we need to get over the line and win a trophy, hopefully the big one tomorrow, as there has been quite a big turnover of players since we won the Europa League. A number of these players need that first trophy and I think that will be an important building block for more to follow. However if we don't manage to win tomorrow, we still will have reached 3 finals in 2 seasons. It at least shows we're on the cusp, and haven't completely fallen away. I think it's a huge summer and a season starting with Tuchel for next year to really kick on.