CHELSEA and Manchester City are set to do battle in Portugal for the Champions League trophy.
After a gruelling season, it all comes down to this as the two Premier League sides go for glory in a sun-drenched Lisbon.
- Kick-off time: 8pm BST
- Chelsea XI: To follow
- Man City XI: To follow
Follow ALL the build-up and action with our live blog below…
BETTING OFFER: Get Man City at 30/1 or Chelsea at 40/1 to win
What time does Chelsea vs Man City kick-off?
- Chelsea’s Champions League final clash with Man City will get underway from 8pm UK time TONIGHT – Saturday, May 29.
- There will be around 16,500 fans in the stadium to watch the game, with 6,000 tickets each being allocated to Chelsea and Man City supporters.
What TV channel is it on and can I live stream?
- The Champions League final will be shown live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 1 HD, as well as BT Sport Ultimate.
- You can catch the action on the BT Sport app which is available for download onto your mobile device, tablet or Smart TV.
Can I watch for FREE?
- EE customers can get BT Sport INCLUDED to their plan at no extra cost if they are on a plan with Smart Benefits – simply log in to EE and choose BT Sport app.
- And then get it on the big screen by texting SPORT to 150 to get a FREE three-month trial of large screen so you can cast all the action on your TV.
- At the end of the three months you will automatically roll onto the £15 per month subscription unless cancelled.
- The game will also be shown LIVE on BT Sport’s YouTube channel, which is available for download onto your mobile device, tablet or Smart TV.
Team news
Man City will be with a fully-fit squad for the Champions League final – a manager’s dream.
But Pep Guardiola has the tough task of choosing who to leave out of his first XI for his side’s clash with Chelsea in Porto.
Joao Cancelo may not start for City and has found himself out of the side recently while Oleksandr Zinchenko could bag himself a starting place.
Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez are all expected to start for City.
For Chelsea, their two big injury sweats were Edouard Mendy and N’Golo Kante, both who are not FIT and ready to face City.
The pair trained on Thursday and and will almost certainly start vs City, with Thiago Silva likely to start in a back three with Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger.
Mason Mount is certain to start, but Thomas Tuchel will have to decide on Kai Havaetz in a false 9 with Timo Werner, or Christian Pulisic.
Mateo Kovacic, meanwhile, will be hoping to displace Jorginho in midfield.
STAGE IS SET
The countdown to our 8pm kick-off is well and truly on now.
This feels like the calm before the storm…
CHELSEA PREDICTED LINE-UP
Here is how SunSport reckon the Blues will shape up tonight.
Will there be any tactical tweaks from Thomas Tuchel to depart from tried-and-tested 3-4-3?
Surely that’s unlikely in the biggest game of all.
DOING THE ROUNDS
Manchester City players could equal a stunning record that has stood for 61 years in tonight’s final.
Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez have scored in the quarter-final and semi-final of this season’s Champions League for Man City v Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain.
The last time two players scored for a team in the quarter-final, semi-final and final of a European Cup/Champions League season was Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas in 1959-60 for Real Madrid.
.Credit: AFP
KIT WASH
You might notice something odd about Chelsea’s kit when they walk out tonight – they’ve ditched the new one.
Since unveiling their new threads, things haven’t quite gone right for the Blues in finals.
Officially released earlier this month, it was described by some fans on social media as ‘horrific’.
Sporting a 1960s throwback look, the zig-zag and chequerboard design has certainly proved to be divisive amongst the fanbase.
The strip is the same for both the men’s and women’s team, both of whom debuted it in finals.
But as well as the FA Cup loss to Leicester, the women’s team were defeated heavily in the Champions League final against Barcelona.
As a result of these two defeats, superstitious figures at Stamford Bridge are reverting to the old kit for tonight’s Lisbon showdown.
BALLS UP
Supporters have been enjoying their spell in Porto ahead of the Champions League final.
A replica trophy has been on show in the Portuguese city, as has a giant ball… which eagle-eyed supporters have noticed has ‘ISTANBUL 21’ scrawled on.
Credit: Getty Credit: Getty CITY EARLY TEAM NEWS
Guardiola is likely to have a fully fit squad for tonight’s clash – despite a fitness scare for Ilkay Gundogan.
The midfielder had overcome a knee problem which is kept him sidelined from last weekend’s final league game against Everton.
But he had appeared take a slight knock during City’s last training session when he came together in a challenge with Fernandinho.
The 30-year-old left the session before many of his team-mates and looked to be in slight discomfort as he went down the tunnel but no official announcement has been made about his fitness.
We’re expecting him to feature though after a terrific campaign.
HOW WILL THEY LINE-UP?
Here is how SunSport predict Manchester City will set themselves out against Chelsea tonight.
DECAD-ENCE
A decade ago, Pep Guardiola witnessed something close to perfection in a Champions League final and realised his job at Barcelona was done, writes DAVE KIDD.
Ten years and one day later, Guardiola finally returns to the grandest fixture in club football, when Manchester City face Chelsea here tonight.
Guardiola admitted: “We could not do better. That was as high as we could go as a team and that was the moment when I started thinking the period at Barcelona was over.
“It’s not possible to think that way in Manchester, because it’s the first time for City in a Champions League final.
“We are not among the elite in Europe. We’re not playing with a relaxed, calm situation, but you have to play with this tension that we have, this pressure that we have.
“Of course I remember that performance against United, one of the greatest teams ever in that period with Sir Alex.
“In that final we expressed what we’d worked four years for.”
PRESSURE RISING
Ex-Chelsea and England man Joe Cole reckons City will feel the pressure of being heavy favourites tonight.
He told Football London: “Where Chelsea and Man City are at the moment, the pressure is on Man City.
“You can see they are the better side over the course of 38 games but the club are so hell-bent on winning this trophy [Champions League] that the pressure is always mounting.
“For Chelsea, you’ve got young players happy to be there in the sense that it wasn’t expected this year. This was a transitional period.
“But they can go out there and win the game with talent all over the park. That is where I think the psychology of the game will be”.
STAT ATTACK
- Man City will become the 23rd club to win the Champions League if they break their duck tonight.
- Guardiola’s side have not drawn a match in FOURTY games (W35, L5).
- Chelsea’s last two CL final appearance have ended in penalty shootouts.
- Kevin De Bruyne has scored in three of the last five matches against the Blues.
LATEST ODDS
Fancy a flutter on tonight’s game?
City are odds-on to win in 90 minutes, with the Blues a hefty 7/2. That’s £43 back for a tenner…
- Chelsea – 10/3
- Draw – 21/10
- Man City – 19/20
- Chelsea to lift cup – 15/8
- Man City to lift cup – 4/11
THE BIG ONE
Sitting comfortably? Good – because this one could be really special.
An all-Premier League final tonight from Lisbon, as Chelsea take on Man City in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola goes in search of the ultimate crown, the one that City have been craving.
Despite his illustrious, relatively young managerial career, this trophy has eluded Guardiola at Eastlands.
This is their first appearance in the main European competition final yet come into the clash as the odds-on favourites.
That is also despite the fact that Chelsea have won the last two meetings between the sides.
Thomas Tuchel’s men edged out City in the FA Cup semi-final by a goal to nil, then followed it up just three weeks ago with a 2-1 win at the Etihad.
Chelsea will now face English opposition in the Champions League final for the second time in their three appearances, having lost the 2008 tournament to Manchester United.
But they do have a winner’s trophy to their name with the penalty shoot-out win over Bayern Munich in 2012.
16,500 fans will be in attendance, with 6,000 from each side.
The Blues handed around 800 tickets back, while thousands have travelled to Portugal without a ticket hoping to pick one up.
Pictures have emerged of fans clashing in Porto. More on that in a short while – but we’ll hopefully just be talking about football later!
Strap in as we countdown to the crowning moment of football in Europe tonight, with kick-off at 8pm BST.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
