UEFA Champions League Final – Manchester City vs Chelsea – Free Live Streaming

This Saturday night the Estadio do Dragao in Porto will play host to the 2021 Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City. BT Sport is making the 2021 Champions League and Europa League finals available for anyone in the UK to watch for FREE on TV, online or on mobile.

Both the 2021 Champions League and Europa League finals will be available for free at btsport.com/final (on matchday), on the BT Sport YouTube channel and via the BT Sport app for small and large-screen devices, including PlayStation, Xbox, Samsung smart TVs and Amazon Fire, and on Virgin channel 532.

Our Champions League VPN and Europa League articles are brought to you in partnership with EPL Index, and Dave Hendrick – host of the Two Footed Podcast, offering FREE podcasts to football fans.

A match originally scheduled for the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, it was moved because of the UK’s rules around travel to and from Turkey. Moving the game to Wembley seemed like the logical move but UEFA decided that wasn’t suitable as many of the complimentary tickets they will be handing out, and not forgetting their own allotment that they will sell, would have gone to people barred from entry to the UK under the Covid guidelines. One of the excuses given was that Wembley is in use for the play-offs this weekend but they could just as easily have played this game at the Emirates, the Tottenham stadium or Anfield.

⚽ Manchester City vs Chelsea
📅  Saturday 29 May 2021
⏰ 2000 UK Kick-Off
🖥️ BT Sport Free Live Streaming

Nevertheless, Porto it is and the Dragao is absolutely a fitting venue for this game. Built for the 2004 European Championship it replaced Porto’s old stadium, the Estadio das Antas, and is the third largest stadium in Portugal after Benfica’s Estadio da Luz and Sporting CP’s Estadio Jose Alvalade with it’s capacity of just over 50,000. It played host to five matches during Euro 2004, including a quarter-final and a semi-final.

Chelsea have faced Porto 10 times in the Champions League, and have played at the Dragao four times. Their record is an respectable 3 defeats against just one win. They did play Porto this season and they were victorious in the away leg of quarter-finals of this seasons competition, winning 2-0, but both games were played in Sevilla due to pandemic restrictions.

City have only played Porto twice, those games came in the group stage of this seasons competition and they drew the away leg which was held at the Dragao. Recent familiarity with the stadium might stand in their favour as Chelsea don’t have many players remaining from their 2015 trip to Porto.

Both sides topped their groups in this seasons competition with Chelsea beating Sevilla away after drawing at home, and picking up wins in both games against Krasnodar and Rennes. City’s draw in Porto was the only group game that they failed to win as they defeated the Portuguese side at The Etihad, and secured victories in both games against Marseille and Olympiacos.

In the round of 16, City overcame Borussia Monchengladbach without much fuss, winning 2-0 in both legs which were both held in Budapest. Thomas Tuchel’s arrival gave Chelsea a massive boost ahead of their round of 16 contest with Atletico Madrid. Had PE teacher extraordinaire Frank Lampard been the man in the dugout, it’s likely that Diego Simeone’s men would have enjoyed a comfortable two legged victory, but Tuchel is a different beast. A 1-0 win in the away leg, held in Bucharest, was followed by a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.

City faced a much tougher test in the quarter finals and needed some help from the officials in defeating Borussia Dortmund. Jude Bellingham had a perfectly good goal ruled out in the home leg, which City won 2-1 at the Etihad, and the referees were again at the centre of attention after 2-1 victory in Dortmund sealed City’s place in the semi-finals. Chelsea meanwhile overcame Porto 2-1 on aggregate after winning the “away” leg 2-0 and losing the “home” leg 1-0 in their doubleheader in Sevilla.

Both sides faced tough tests in the semi-finals with Chelsea overcoming Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate and City seeing off PSG 4-1. Chelsea’s 1-1 draw in the first leg in Madrid went rather unnoticed as praise was piled on to City for their 2-1 victory in Paris but it was an excellent performance and a result that, like City, put them in control of the tie. Both English sides saw off their glamourous opposition with 2-0 wins on home soil to advance to the final.

For Chelsea it’s a third Champions League final, for City it will their first. Chelsea lost in heartbreaking fashion in 2008 when they were defeated on penalties by Manchester United. A 1-1 draw, that had seen Cristiano Ronaldo put United 1-0 up before Frank Lampard equalized just before half-time, played out in tense fashion between two well matched teams. The only moment of note between the second half and the entirety of extra-time was Didier Drogba getting sent out for an altercation with Nemanja Vidic. During the penalty shoot-out, John Terry slipped when he had the chance to win it for Chelsea after Cristiano missed his penalty. Terry fell over, the ball hit the post and Chelsea would lose when Edwin Van Der Saar saved from Nico Anelka.

Chelsea did win their first European Cup in their second final appearance, though quite how they managed it is yet to be determined all these years later. In the 2012 final, Chelsea went to Munich to take on Bayern. With the final being played in their home stadium, and the vastly superior team, Bayern had been expected to sweep Chelsea aside. Arguably the weakest team of the Abramovich era, Chelsea shouldn’t have stood a chance but Bayern struggled to cope with the pressure and even though Thomas Muller gave them the lead in the 83rd minute, they still didn’t look secure and Didier Drogba equalized on 88. To penalties we went once more, but this time Chelsea held their nerve. Even after Juan Mata missed their first spot kick, Chelsea’s belief never wavered and after Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinstiger missed their penalties, Chelsea would finally get their hands on Big Ears after Didier Drogba converted the decisive kick. John Terry, never far from the centre of attention, was suspended for the final but in one of the most embarrassing moments in Champions League history he appeared in his full kit, shinpads included, to lift the cup. Not for Terry was the humility of allowing Frank Lampard, captain on the night, the chance to lift the trophy as Roy Keane had done for Peter Schmeichel in 1999 when the Irishman was suspended for the final, funnily also against Bayern. No, no. The “Captain, Leader, Legend” had to make it about himself.

City’s first final has been 13 years in the making. Ever since Sheikh Mansour purchased the club in 2008, the expressed desire for the “project” was Champions League glory. Over a billion pounds has been spent to get to this point, Pep Guardiola was hired to get to this point. For City, it’s everything. One Champions League triumph will mean more to the ownership than 10 Premier League titles. Having fallen short of reaching the final in such disappointing fashion over the past few years, Guardiola and his player won’t want to let this opportunity slip. For Sergio Aguero, this will be his final game as a City player and it would be the perfect way to crown 10 glorious years at the club. As he heads off to pour more petrol on the dumpster fire that is Barcelona and their wagebill, Aguero might never get the chance to win this competition again.

City won the Premier League title and thus are the superior team, but Chelsea won both of the recent meeting between the sides. A 1-0 win the FA Cup semi-final stopped City completing a historic quadruple, and they followed that up with a 2-1 win at the Etihad in the League. Chelsea’s end of season form has not impressed though as they lost the FA Cup Final to Leicester before choking under pressure in their final league game and losing what seemed like a must-win game against midtable Aston Villa. Luckily for them, a Brendan Rodgers special saw Leicester throw away a 2-1 lead to lose 4-2 at home to Tottenham and gift Chelsea a spot in next season’s Champions League.

City did beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge this season, though that was while the team was under the supervision of Lampard. Tuchel has given Pep problems this season, though Pep does hold the upperhand on the German over the course of his career because of his dominance while at Bayern Munich. In his first season he won both games against a Tuchel-led Mainz team and in his final season he watched his side trounce Borussia Dortmund, led by Tuchel, in their first leg meeting of the campaign before drawing the return. The two sides met in the DFB-Pokal final with Bayern winning 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. They had not met between that final and the Cup semi-final this season so Pep holds a four victory to two advantage, with one draw though technically the Pokal final was also a draw so Guardiola’s advantage over 90 minutes is 3-2 with two draws. All of that will fade into the background this Saturday night though, because this game is all that matters.

The most important match in European club football, with the biggest prize on the continent at stake. City will be at full strength, but Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of Edouard Mendy and Ngolo Kante. The London side will be desperate to have the pair fit, though Kante is likely the one they’d choose if they could only have one. Against the passing approach of City, Kante’s ballwinning will be absolute vital for Chelsea. He alone could swing the game in their favour.

It promises to be a good game of football and could either define the legacy of Pep Guardiola or serve to elevate Thomas Tuchel into the elite class of managers.

 

With the news at the start of the 20/21 season that UEFA have secured a court order enforcing blocks on IPTV providers in Ireland, in addition to a similar high court order to block illegal IPTV streaming in the UK as well. The Premier League is also subject to such blocks and the major ISPs in the UK and Ireland are now legally required to block streams from non-official streaming sources.

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