Football News: Guardiola Strategy Failed Vs Chelsea In Champions League Final—Analyst

Chelsea secured the UEFA Champions League crown, beating Manchester City in an all-English final, 1-0, on Saturday at Estadio de Dragao in Portugal.

Kai Havertz scored the match’s only goal at the 42nd minute, while the Blues defended well to blank all of their opponent’s seven shots throughout to win only their second Champions League trophy.

It was a disappointment for Manchester City fans, expecting the English Premier League crown winners to pull off a one-of-a-kind performance for the titular showdown, only to be outsmarted by Thomas Tuchel, who is steadily becoming one of the most reputable football managers today.

As pointed out in a recent piece, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has the propensity for keeping their strategy a mystery up to the kick-off point, a move that has seemingly backfired on their side.

“Man City’s identity as a team isn’t one identity; it’s shifting, provisional, an amorphous clutter of possible identities from which Pep [Guardiola] assembles a fresh vision every week,” Brian Phillips of The Ringer wrote.

Chelsea previously beat Manchester City in the domestic league weeks ago, 2-1, although pundits have suggested the because Guardiola had already won the Premier League that time, he had a different lineup to keep his Champions League strategy up his sleeve.

Such unpredictability would come back to haunt them, unfortunately, as Tuchel and the rest of the Blues had a sound game plan entering the final.

“In that sense, Guardiola’s approach to the Champions League final only forced an exaggerated version of the attack-vs.-defense matchup that previews of the game had been calling for all week. Guardiola gave Tuchel exactly the game Tuchel wanted and gambled that his team would be better at it,” Phillips pointed out.

“The problem was that he tried to conjure the mirror image of Chelsea out of Man City’s repertoire of possible selves, while Chelsea just concentrated on being itself. Talent or no talent, it’s harder to improvise an unstoppable force than to be an immovable object after a lot of practice.”

Surprisingly, Manchester City controlled possession, 61% to 39% and yet was unable to find the back of the net with a striker-centric starting 11.

Chelsea was able to halt all of their rival’s attacks, and Edouard Mendy took care of the rest.

It was another feather in the cap moment for Tuchel, signaling a bright future for the club in seasons to come.