win a trip to uefa champions league

Win your UEFA Champions League Dream Final experience

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

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Win UEFA Champions League final tickets, flights, accommodation and a selection of premium, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

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Pitchside at the UCL Kick-Off Show by Pepsi : Enjoy a front row seat at the Pepsi Kick-Off Show, courtesy of Pepsi.

Centre Circle Carrier Experience : Soak in the atmosphere as you hold the iconic UCL centre circle flag pre-match, courtesy of Just Eat Takeaway.

Watch the trophy lift pitchside : Watch the celebrations unfold pitchside as the champions gets their hands on the iconic trophy.

Alongside the Grand Prize, fans will also have the chance to win weekly prizes, including Football Manager 24, as well as UEFA Online Store souvenirs and vouchers.

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Pepsi and Frito-Lay Give Fans A Chance To Win Tickets to the UEFA Champions League Final Istanbul 2023

NEW YORK, N.Y. —   Pepsi and Frito-Lay are bringing even more excitement to U.S. soccer fans through a new UEFA Champions League (UCL) “The Perfect Match” sweepstakes and retail program launching nationwide. The multi-faceted retail campaign comes on the heels of Pepsi’s global football campaign announcement that Nigerian superstar Burna Boy will co-headline the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show by Pepsi.

This year, Pepsi and Frito-Lay are giving fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to travel to and attend one of soccer’s biggest games by entering “The Perfect Match” sweepstakes. Consumers can scan QR codes on limited-edition UCL packaging featuring world champion Lionel Messi on select Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, and Frito-Lay products or in-store displays featuring legendary soccer player Javier “Chicharito” Hernández at participating retailers for a chance to win two tickets to the UEFA Champions League Final Istanbul 2023 and UCL-branded gear. Consumers can also register to win or view official rules and regulations by visiting the website.

Chicharito also stars in new TV and digital creative for the “Mejor Con Pepsi” (Better With Pepsi) campaign, exclusively in the U.S. The ads, launched on March 27, show the star-turned-fan enjoying the game and empanadas, all made better with Pepsi.

Rockstar Energy Drink, the official energy drink of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League, joins Pepsi and Frito-Lay on U.S. store shelves with limited-edition UCL thematic cans.

The limited-edition packaging is available now at retailers nationwide including Albertsons, Kroger, 7-Eleven, Circle K, Walmart, Sam’s and Family Dollar on products including:

Pepsi: 12 oz Pepsi Blue and Pepsi Zero Sugar – 12, 15, and 36 packs

Frito-Lay: Lay’s Limon, Lay’s Adobadas, Ruffles Queso, Doritos Spicy Nacho, Doritos Dinamita Chile Limon

Rockstar: 16 oz Rockstar Original, Rockstar Punched Fruit Punch and Rockstar Pure Zero Silver Ice

“We’ve seen the passion and enthusiasm soccer fans have when they watch the games at home, which is why we wanted to reward them during one of the most thrilling times of the season,” said Esperanza Teasdale, PepsiCo Multicultural Vice President & General Manager. “With the help of global soccer star ‘Chicharito’ we are launching this campaign to help fuel our fans’ stateside celebrations with their favorite snacks and beverages, while giving them the chance to get even closer to the action with a dream soccer experience in Istanbul.”

In support of the next generation of soccer greats, PepsiCo is also rolling out the third year of “Team of Champions,” a national purpose platform that improves access to soccer in underserved and underrepresented communities, including Black and Hispanic youth, across the United States. There will be 16 new clubs selected from cities including Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington, D.C. to be a part of this year’s Team of Champions, with Chicharito also returning for his third season as “Team Captain.” The $1 million commitment over three years makes actionable investments on and off the field, including helping the teams with apparel and equipment costs, field access, mentoring, coaching and education, and fan experiences.

The “Team of Champions” is an important initiative part of PepsiCo’s Racial Equality Journey’s community pillar, which in 2020 saw the company announce commitments of more than $570 million over five years to increase representation within its workforce, and uplift Black and Hispanic businesses, and help create economic opportunity in those communities.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people.

For More Information: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pepsi-and-frito-lay-celebrate-soccers-biggest-season-by-giving-fans-a-chance-to-win-tickets-to-the-uefa-champions-league-final-istanbul-2023-301790744.html

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We’ve teamed up with Mastercard® to give JD STATUS members the chance to WIN tickets to the UEFA Champions League Final!

Two of Europe’s elite teams will go head-to-head on Saturday 1st June at London’s legendary Wembley Stadium to take home football’s most prestigious trophy. Want to get in amongst the action? Here’s what you need to do.  

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The top prize is for one lucky winner to bag a mega prize package featuring two-night stay in London, with a pair of tickets to the UEFA Champions League Final and your travel, accommodation and meals all included!  

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Live Updates from the UEFA Champions League final. Chelsea Beats Manchester City to Win Its Second Champions League Title

By Andrew Das ,  Rory Smith and Tariq Panja

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Chelsea beat Manchester City, 1-0, capturing European soccer’s biggest prize only months after changing coaches, and beating a City team that was built for this moment.

Chelsea Wins the Champions League, Its Chaos Conquering City’s Plan

By Rory Smith

PORTO, Portugal — Manchester City’s players did not seem to want to leave. Not right away, at least. They stood, as if frozen in place, as Chelsea ’s players heaved the prize City craves more than any other into the air. They could not go. To go, after all, would be to accept that it was real, that it was over.

They had found themselves on the far side of the field at the Estádio do Dragão, silver medals draped around their necks. To get to the mournful safety of the locker room, they would have to walk past the seats that had, only a few minutes earlier, contained the massed ranks of their fans, hoping and willing that City might find a goal, that it might find salvation, that it might win a Champions League final it would go on to lose to Chelsea, 1-0 . The seats were all but empty now. The fans had not stuck around to watch, to wallow.

Slowly, the players mustered their last vestiges of energy and began their long, sorrowful march. Several were on the verge of tears. Several more were long past the verge. Others seemed glazed, scarcely able to move, as if they were buffering, trying to process what had happened, what this meant.

It was just as they started to move that the fireworks went off, crackling and glittering and thudding into the sky. Soon, City’s whole team and its staff members were obscured, swallowed whole by a great cloud of cordite by fireworks that were supposed — were expected — to be for them. That is the thing about soccer, about sports. Sometimes, things do not turn out as they should.

In a lot of ways, Chelsea and Manchester City are two sides of the same coin. They are the vanguard of the money that has swept into soccer over the last 20 years, brought by hedge funds and vulture capitalists and oligarchs and nation states. They are, depending on one’s perspective, either the great insurgents or the nouveaux riches.

But they are, at the same time, fundamentally different. The Chelsea of Roman Abramovich has always embraced chaos. It has now won the Champions League twice, both times in seasons in which it changed its manager at the slightest hint of disappointment, in seasons when its ultimate triumph made little sense.

The Chelsea that was champion of Europe in 2012 was managed by Roberto Di Matteo, who won the trophy without his captain and with a debutante left back. The Chelsea that repeated the trick in 2021 has a squad that is both vastly expensive and curiously incomplete. Its leading goal-scorer, domestically, is a defensive midfielder who only shoots, really, when he takes penalties . Its main striker does not score goals. He does not, at times, look like he knows how .

Manchester City, by contrast, is a monument to control. In the 13 years since it was taken over by a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, it has sought to perfect every single aspect of being a soccer team. It has worked under the assumption that success is, effectively, a formula: that if all of the variables are regulated, winning is inevitable.

And so City is the benchmark: it has the best youth academy, the best training facilities, it has a playing style that unifies the club from bottom to top. It has the most data and the biggest scouting network, it has the deepest squad and the greatest manager and the most sophisticated commercial operation and the largest network of sister clubs.

None of it has come cheap. Quite how much all of it has cost is not possible to put a precise figure on. But it has cost not far off a couple of billion dollars, at the very least, to transform a soccer team that was a byword for disappointment into a gleaming advertisement for the modernity and mastery of its backers.

It has worked. Under Pep Guardiola, City has risen to become the dominant force in English soccer. For three of the past five years, it has probably — by most metrics — been the best team in Europe, whatever that means, really: the most complete and the most consistent, the one with the highest ceiling.

It is a constancy that has always evaded Chelsea, always too turbulent, too impatient, too comfortable with change. And it has been achieved by translating the control that defines the club into its playing style. Guardiola wants not just to have possession of the ball, but to have ownership of space itself: to dictate where passes go and where players do.

All of it, each meticulously-selected piece of the puzzle, had been done with this moment in mind. The Champions League represents the ultimate fulfillment not just of Guardiola’s vision, but City’s. It is justification for all of that investment, vindication for all of those ideas, and it is reward for doing all of those things right.

There is just one flaw. Success is not a formula. Not this sort of success, anyway, the success that relies on an alignment of the stars and the rub of the green and the minutiae of countless little moments. That is the undeniable, untameable nature of sport: that, in the end, there is always something that you cannot account for, something that you cannot control. That, sometimes, things do not turn out the way they should.

And so, in the game that represented that manifestation of its destiny, Manchester City sought to exert a supreme, almost obsessive, control, and found only chaos. Guardiola named a team full of attacking midfielders — one at left back, three in midfield, two more upfront — with the aim of starving Chelsea of first the ball and then hope. Yet it was City who seemed frantic, uncertain, whizzing and whirling round the field at breakneck speed to try to slow down the game.

It lost because Chelsea was the precise opposite. It is only six months since Thomas Tuchel, its coach, was fired by Paris St.-Germain, unable to recover from losing the Champions League final last season. He was tasked not only with replacing Frank Lampard, a beloved club legend who many fans thought deserved more time to prove his worth, but with shaping some sort of identifiable team from the morass of gifted, but drifting, players he inherited.

He was told to fashion order from chaos, and this was his ultimate, his irrevocable proof. City barely laid a glove on Chelsea. It found its every path blocked, its every idea pre-empted, its every thought read. As Guardiola’s team grew more frenzied, Chelsea held its fire, bided its time, and waited for the moment to strike.

Its chance came just before halftime. For all those midfielders in Guardiola’s lineup, not one of them was in the vicinity of Mason Mount as he picked the ball up in his own half. Timo Werner, the nonscoring striker, darted into a channel, dragging City’s central defenders from their positions. Kai Havertz sprinted into the gap. Mount found him, and he bore down on goal, unencumbered, unaccompanied.

That was enough. That was all Tuchel’s team needed. It would be Chelsea’s players, at the end, running around the field, running to their fans, running on fumes and on adrenaline, running nowhere in particular, running because joy that pure, that uncut, the joy of a dream realized, is beautiful chaos.

And it would be City’s on that long march past those empty seats, through that cordite cloud stinging eyes already raw with tears, slowly coming to terms with the fact that — for now, at least — it is real, and it is over. This is the game they were gathered to win, the trophy that is the club’s ultimate purpose. This was their moment. But that is sports. Success is not a formula. Sometimes, things do not turn out as they should, as you expect. Sometimes, there is just a little bit of chaos.

Tick, tick, tick in Porto. And it’s over.

It’s over! Chelsea has won its second Champions League title, delivered by a Kai Havertz goal in a thrilling, taut final marred by a head injury that forced City’s playmaker, Kevin De Bruyne, from the game in the second half.

Chelsea’s title is its second in the competition. Its previous win came in 2012.

Defeat will be yet another bitter disappointment for Manchester City, which was playing in its first final after a decade in which its spending, its acquisitions and its ambition have lifted the quality, and the budgets, of teams across Europe.

The United States midfielder Christian Pulisic, who came on for Chelsea as a second-half substitute, became the first American to play in the final. He is not the first American player to lift the trophy, however; that honor went to Dortmund’s Jovan Kirovski in 1997.

He sought out his family after the game.

A moment of joy 💙 pic.twitter.com/U6BNDXpYhV — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 29, 2021

Riyad Mahrez sidefoots a volley wide. Could that have been the last chance?

Seven — yes SEVEN — minutes of injury time coming. Much of it the result of the injury to De Bruyne. The question is: Is it enough for City?

Chelsea’s crowd has filled the Estádio do Dragão with its voices now. They can taste it.

Agüero fails to convert one chance and can’t latch on to another ball sent deep. He and Jesus and buzzing, but the clock is ticking.

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Ten nervous minutes to go for Chelsea as Agüero comes on.

Chelsea would have been waiting for one chance to settle this. Now, Thomas Tuchel might have to worry that it has come, and gone, without being taken. Kai Havertz did brilliantly to lead a counterpunch, and then slipped Christian Pulisic — the first American ever to play in a men’s Champions League final — through on goal. He was slightly off balance, and could not quite control his finish.

With somewhere in the region of 10 minutes left, Chelsea will be expecting a Manchester City siege. It will have as its spearhead Agüero, the club’s greatest ever striker, the man who scored the most significant goal in its history, in his last ever game for the team he has graced for a decade.

That’s an awful lot of narrative power coming off the substitutes’ bench.

— Rory Smith

Second-half updates: De Bruyne departs after a crunching tackle.

Mateo Kovacic, who won two Champions League crowns at Real Madrid without kicking a ball in the final, replaces Mount.

Sergio Agüero, who scored one of the most famous goals in Manchester City history and is playing his final game for the club, comes on for Sterling. Could he reprise his role as Agüeroooooooooooooooooo !

Sergio Aguero plays his final Premier League game today. ▪️ Won City’s first title with 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 goal ▪️ Record 12 hat-tricks ▪️ 4th all-time top scorer (182) ▪️ 20+ goals in six seasons ▪️ 5x champion Legend. 💙 (via @ManCity ) pic.twitter.com/LrfUiQeoxr — B/R Football (@brfootball) May 23, 2021

Pulisic comes close!!! He and Havertz took off at the City defense, and the German fed the American. But Ederson charged out to close the distance, and while Pulisic got off a shot, it rolled across the yawning goalmouth and wide.

Pulisic is up next to the fourth official. He’s on; Werner off. That makes Pulisic the first American man to play in a Champions League final (nine American women have done it).

Like Kanté’s defensive role, Pulisic’s ability on the counter could be perfectly suited to this situation evolving in the last half hour.

Fernandinho will play after all: He comes on for Bernardo Silva, and will drop into his normal defensive role.

Everyone else, one assumes, will be instructed to push a little higher, secure in the knowledge that he will handle the defensive business in front of the back line.

Shouts for a handball by City, but the referee has spotted the incident and — correctly — rules that a shot that hit Reece James in front of the Chelsea goal hit his chest and then his arm. No handball because of that bang-bang contact.

De Bruyne can’t continue. He leaves in tears, and clearly dazed. Terribly sad for him, for City and maybe for Belgium, which is counting on him for this summer’s European Championship.

But his day is done. Gabriel Jesus sprints on to replace him.

A violent collision leaves Rüdiger and De Bruyne on the turf after the former used a body block to keep the latter from executing a give and go in midfield. De Bruyne stays down a bit longer, and he really looks to be dazed.

Rüdiger went down hard, too, and rises to receive a yellow card for his foul. He’ll have to be careful, but at the moment City’s concern is its playmaker, lying on the grass near the center circle.

Kanté tracks, and takes down, De Bruyne with a perfectly timed tackle. The French midfielder is one of the most tireless, most effective, most quietly valuable players in world soccer — a man with a motor that never quits and uncommonly good instincts and timing.

This game is perfectly set up for him to be a star now. Just by being himself.

We are back underway and it takes City less than a minute to win a dangerous free kick. But Chelsea’s back line presses up just before it is taken, and City’s effort lands in Kanté’s lap. He clears.

Halftime analysis: City’s risk, Chelsea’s reward.

Chelsea’s goal confirmed the main lesson of the first half: Manchester City is being exposed too easily at the back.

For all those midfielders Pep Guardiola has named, not one of them was anywhere near Mason Mount as he picked up the ball inside his own half. Timo Werner’s clever run parted the defense, and Mount had all the time he needed and all the space he could aim for to slip Havertz through. The goal was the young German’s first in the Champions League. Not too bad a time to score it.

Expect City to roar back at Chelsea in the second half. But that creates a further risk, because Tuchel’s team has looked extremely dangerous on the counterattack today. This first half has been a lot of fun. The second is set up perfectly to be better.

GOAL! Kai Havertz gives Chelsea the lead.

Stunner. Kai Havertz latches on to a beautiful, incisive through ball from Mason Mount, splitting the City defense, takes a touch and gives Chelsea the lead.

What a stunning turn of events, just after losing a key defender, just before halftime, just as City would have been loving its chances.

Instead, Chelsea stretched them with a single ball. Guardiola looks stunned.

¡Gooooool del Chelsea! ✨👏 ¡Gooooool del Chelsea! ✨👏 ¡Gooooool del Chelsea! ✨👏 Havertz logra esquivar al arquero y marca el primero de la noche ‼️ @ManCity 0-1 @ChelseaFC EN VIVO🔴 https://t.co/7dS3Wq3IF4 #UCLFinal l #UCL l #TuChampions pic.twitter.com/SUlQNcJmHH — TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) May 29, 2021

A few minutes later, our Spanish referee blows the whistle for halftime. City’s defenders begin their inquiry over just that how that happened, and Chelsea’s fans sink into their seats in relief.

The second half could be FUN.

Plot twist! Thiago Silva is going off with a groin injury.

Thiago Silva, back in the final with Chelsea a year after losing the final as a member of Paris St.-Germain, is off. He came to the sideline for treatment a few minutes ago and now is down again. His day is done in the 38th minutes, and he looks crushed.

Andreas Christensen, who hasn’t played in three weeks, sprints on to replace him. His task — stopping a City attack that has smelled blood several times — is not a fun job to get on a moment’s notice.

Nerves and chances in the first half hour.

As a rule, finals involving teams from the same country are not especially enthralling. The teams know each other too well. The stakes are, if anything, too high. Judging by the first half hour, this will stand alongside the all-German affair in 2013 as an exception. It has been breathless and frenetic and surprisingly open.

That was to be expected from City, of course, after we saw Pep Guardiola’s lineup, but Chelsea has responded in kind. Indeed, if anything, it has had the better of the chances to take the lead. Timo Werner alone has had three. It will be of no great surprise to anyone who has watched him this season that he has scored none of them.

City, on the other hand, has looked nervous. Not in an error-prone, cautious sort of way, but in a frenzied and frantic kind of way. Everything is a little too quick, a little too hurried. Raheem Sterling, a surprise inclusion, has carried the greatest threat, but there is a need for more haste and less speed. City’s success this season has been rooted in its patience and its composure. It could do with just a touch of that here.

First-half updates: It’s scoreless, but each team has produced great chances.

Ilkay Gundogan picks up the game’s first yellow card, for a late and high challenge in midfield.

Chelsea’s center back Thiago Silva, meanwhile, has limped to the sideline and is having his thigh looked at. This could be big; he marshalls Chelsea’s back line.

Staring down Raheem Sterling knowing he is about to turn the corner and speed away from you must be one of the more scary, sinking feelings in soccer. Chelsea’s right back, Reece James, just got a taste of it, but he was able to backtrack and nick the ball away just as Sterling entered the area.

Guardiola, meanwhile, is already looking for solutions, for changes, for a way in. He just ordered Phil Foden to press higher, and more centrally.

City remains on the front foot at all times, though; every time Chelsea surrenders the ball, City’s forwards are driving straight at them again.

That is three early chances for Timo Werner, who has been surprisingly active and, perhaps unsurprisingly, more threatening than truly dangerous. That has been the knock on Werner all season: that he gets a lot of chances but converts far too few of them. The theme is continuing today.

Proving City is dangerous and attack-minded from literally every position on the field, its goalkeeper, Ederson, cuts out everyone in front of him with a single, long ball over the top ahead of a speeding Raheem Sterling.

Sterling’s first touch fails him, though, and the first really dangerous chance is lost. But we’re suddenly going end to end.

Ederson or KDB!? 💫 pic.twitter.com/uEbVyjYKIa — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 29, 2021

City’s attacking lineup is showing some patience in the opening minutes. They will want to stretch Chelsea a bit, and the Blues know it. They have kept their shape as tight as they can early on, pressing the outside backs and trying to keep the ball in City’s half, not their own.

Manchester City kicks off in its traditional light blue with white shorts. Chelsea is in royal blue.

And extending a moment that has taken place all season, the teams kneel before the game begins, continuing their campaign for social justice efforts.

An old grudge returns as the stadium fills.

Manchester City fans’ simmering dislike of UEFA, despite an emerging peace between the club and the organization after City helped kill the Super League, has not been erased by reaching the Champions League final.

Boos rang out from the section holding City fans when the tournament anthem was played.

— Tariq Panja

Manchester City’s lineup is pure, undiluted Guardiola.

If Pep Guardiola is to win this, then, he is clearly going to do it his way. Manchester City’s lineup is pure, undiluted Guardiola, the very essence of what he believes to be soccer’s highest form: a team made up, almost entirely, of attacking midfielders.

There is an attacking midfielder at left back, three attacking midfielders where you would expect to find them, in midfield, and two more attacking midfielders in, well, attack. That means there is no room for Fernandinho, so often the calming influence on this team, or for his understudy, Rodri. Guardiola has decided to look forward, rather than back, to trust his players to hurt Chelsea more than Chelsea can hurt them.

It is not the first time he has done this; Guardiola’s selection for Barcelona, in his first final in 2009, raised eyebrows, too. That night in Rome, he played Lionel Messi as a false nine, and in one fell swoop shifted soccer’s Overton Window. It was not the first time Messi had played there — and Messi was not the first player to take on that role — but to do it on such a stage was confirmation it was no longer a trick, an option, an experiment. It was a statement of belief in his principles.

This selection could have much the same effect. This may be the culmination of the third iteration of Guardiola’s vision of how the game should be played. If City wins, of course.

And that is the risk: Guardiola’s record of changing his approach in the Champions League is mixed, at best. His players have intimated that now is not the time for testing out new ideas, for bold leaps into the future. City should be superior to Chelsea. Asking his players to feel their way into a new system in the biggest game of them all could — emphasis on could — dull that edge slightly. It is a brave time to take a risk. That, though, is Guardiola’s way. And he always does it his way.

The lineups are in: Fernandinho and Pulisic start on the bench.

Manchester City, perhaps eager to just get on with it already, released its lineup early.

Manchester City’s XI : Ederson; Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias, John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Ilkay Gundogan; Kevin De Bruyne (C), Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden

The only thing that might qualify as a surprise is that defensive midfielder Fernandinho, so often the grit and bite in City’s midfield as it goes forward, starts on the bench. So does Sergio Agüero, playing his final game for the club.

Here we go 😅 XI | Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinchenko, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Mahrez, Sterling, Foden SUBS | Steffen, Carson, Ake, Jesus, Aguero, Laporte, Rodrigo, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Cancelo, Garcia ⚽️ #UCLFinal 🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/APXPDXtXTk — Manchester City (@ManCity) May 29, 2021

Chelsea followed minutes later, and the news is that Thomas Tuchel starts with Timo Werner up top and supported by Mason Mount and Kai Havertz. Christian Pulisic, the midfielder who is expected to become the first American to play in the final, assumes his usual role of substitute.

“It was a tough choice to leave him out,” Tuchel said, adding that he had warned his players there would be many such choices today. “But he is very strong off the bench.”

Chelsea’s XI: Edouard Mendy; Cesar Azpilicueta (C), Thiago Silva, Antonio Rüdiger, Reece James; Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté, Ben Chilwell; Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Mason Mount

Team news is in! 📝 #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/BrKdO0jdId — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 29, 2021

— Andrew Das

The elephant in the room: money.

Ask any English soccer fan — any European soccer fan, for that matter — for the first word that comes to mind about today’s finalists and you’ll probably get the same answer: money.

But while money is absolutely part of the reason these teams are in this final — and why this might not be the last time we see them here in the near future — dismissing each team because they have a lot of it doesn’t give a fair picture of what they have built.

Manchester City recently won its third Premier League title in four years, and it has been setting a new standard for excellence in England and beyond (though notably not in the Champions League) for about a decade.

Most non-City fans sneer at the club’s success, dismissing it (perhaps enviously) as solely the result of the seemingly bottomless wealth of the team’s Gulf ownership, which has poured billions into the squad. But lots of teams have rich owners. Valencia has one. So does Newcastle United . So do the New York Jets . Ask fans of those teams how things are going.

The difference with Manchester City is not just that it has bought well — stars like Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Rúben Dias — and bought in bulk . It is that it has bought with a plan. “Petrol and ideas,” Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager, once said of how City was transformed from also-ran to champion. “Money and quality.” Now it just needs to clear the final hurdle, the one that has driven its entire mission. And preferably before its Qatar-backed rival, Paris St.-Germain, beats it to the prize.

Chelsea , too, has been built for days like this. Champions of England five times under its say-little, spend-a-lot Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, the Blues finished fourth in the Premier League this season. It has lost only five games under the German coach it hired in January, Thomas Tuchel, and it has beaten Manchester City twice since mid-April.

Chelsea, too, has bought well. It took advantage of the pandemic’s uncertainty last year to bring aboard $260 million worth of new players : $51 million to Ajax for the playmaker Hakim Ziyech; $68 million for the Germany striker Timo Werner; $63 million more for Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell. Thiago Silva, the vastly experienced Brazil defender, was coaxed away from other suitors, and amid all that Chelsea persuaded Bayer Leverkusen to part with the 21-year-old forward Kai Havertz for a fee that may rise as high as $90 million.

“The ambitions are as true now as they were when I first became owner,” said Abramovich. “I hope that can be seen through the work we have been doing on and off the pitch over the last 17 years.”

The squad his wealth has assembled that even the best of those buys have struggled to find a regular place in a squad so deep that its bench includes a World Cup-winning striker and a goalkeeper, when we signed three years ago, was the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.

But this time Chelsea also has a coach, Tuchel, who nearly won this competition last year, and who knows how to lead a deep and talented (and expensively constructed) roster in big moments.

In a battle of budgets, could he or his counterpart, Pep Guardiola, be the difference?

Is the final Christian Pulisic’s big moment?

There is an American at today’s game. Two actually.

Christian Pulisic is expected to feature for Chelsea, though it will be from off the bench, the high-water mark in stages for the high-water mark in American players in Europe.

The other American, Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen, most likely will be a spectator in Porto unless there is an emergency or two in his team’s camp. Steffen’s consolation is that he has already become the first American to win the Premier League.

But for most fans in the United States, Pulisic will be the main talking point today. Even since he joined Chelsea from Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in 2019, for a $73 million fee that raised eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic, he has battled to find his place in London, and his team.

Chelsea and its fans have had little complaint about his play .

Just last month, he scored the goal that provided a valuable point on the road against Real Madrid in semifinals.

ICE IN HIS VEINS. Take a bow, @cpulisic_10. 🇺🇸 (@UCLonCBSSports) pic.twitter.com/yTSrVlKExs — U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) April 27, 2021

A week later he showed similar poise to set up a goal by Mason Mount that finished off Madrid.

PULISIC. MOUNT. GAME OVER. 💥 pic.twitter.com/8lSODoWeec — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 5, 2021

But the ongoing competition for places in Chelsea’s star-studded attack is never easy; a year after bringing Pulisic into a team that already had Mason Mount, who plays a similar game, Chelsea bought the German forwards Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.

Injuries, too, have been a persistent issue for Pulisic, and that is perhaps part of the reason Chelsea Coach Thomas Tuchel has tended to see him as more of a second-half super sub than a 90-minute fixture in his team.

But did his performance against Real Madrid, and some other strong outings this spring, change that impression? No. He will start on the bench as usual, but said this week that he would be ready when called.

“I’ve learned a lot, I’ve come very far,” Pulisic said in an interview with CBS Sports this week. “There have been some real ups, also some times where I had some really difficult moments. I’m happy with my form now. I’m happy with the way I’m feeling. I’m confident.”

The fans have poured in to Porto today.

Many fans traveled to Porto on matchday for a variety of reasons and by morning they were passing through the city’s airport and looking for the fastest route to the city.

But getting into the country required one extra step this year: a coronavirus test.

Approved for entry, the late-arriving fans joined their countrymen in the city center. With hours to kill before the evening kickoff, thousands gravitated to the waterfront, where the sun was shining and the beer was flowing.

Security police, wary of the size of the crowds, kept a close watch. But among City fans flocking to their clubs first Champions League final, and Chelsea supporters thrilled to be back in the game, the mood was light.

Our colleague Tariq Panja met Nigel Holland, 63, and Paul Hart, 67, of Manchester. Each had followed City for more than a half century. “We’ve done the really dark days from the third division, so we’re enjoying this,” Holland said.

Others just couldn’t wait to get inside the Estádio do Dragão, and get on with it.

Do you enjoy Champions League final day? What if it lasted a week?

The president of European soccer’s governing body confirmed reporting by The Times this week that the organization was considering combining the Champions League semifinals and final into a weeklong soccer celebration instead of a single day.

“Personally, I would like to see it happen,” the president, Aleksander Ceferin, told the French sports daily L’Equipe ahead of Saturday’s final in Portugal. “It could be great. And effective in terms of revenue if it is well done.”

And while he expressed support for the idea, Ceferin also said there was still time to discuss it with clubs, partners and broadcasters.

“There is no urgency,” he said. “We can decide this in a year’s time.” The changes, The Times reported, could not take place until at least 2024.

Last summer’s Champions League knockout stages were a hastily arranged affair, thrown together with fingers crossed even before the pandemic had ebbed in Europe. Schedules were changed. A new host (Lisbon) was found. A bubble was created.

But something surprising happened: Everyone seemed to love it. Single-game quarterfinals and semifinals — instead of the usual home-and-away ties — were a high-stakes hit, adding drama and drawing viewers.

The changes proved so popular with Champions League organizers, in fact, that they are giving serious consideration to incorporating some of them permanently as part of a “champions week” concept in which two winner-take-all semifinals and the final will be played in one city, and supplemented by a schedule of concerts, games and other events.

The proposal would produce the focused drama of the final weekend of a tennis major or college basketball’s Final Four , and turn club soccer’s marquee game into something a bit more like the Super Bowl.

“The sponsors will love it,” said Tim Crow, a consultant who has advised several major companies involved in events like the World Cup and the Olympics. “The Super Bowl model is like that, when it’s not about the game, it’s about the week.”

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Who will win the Champions League 2023/24? The favourites - ranked

• Man City favourites to retain the Champions League in 2023/24
• European giants Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid have not been convincing
• Arsenal and PSG looking to take advantage and go far

By Euan Burns | Mar 15, 2024, 12:33 PM GMT

The 2023/24 Champions League is reaching its business end.

It's one of the most open tournaments in recent years with plenty of European giants not at their peak.

The quarter and semi-final draws threw up some wild ties in the last eight, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all paired on one side while one of Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona will reach the final at Wembley in early June.

However, no sides can be ruled out from contention in a competition as dramatic as the Champions League .

Here's 90min's ranking of the teams most likely to win this season's competition.

8. Borussia Dortmund

This is hardly a vintage Borussia Dortmund team. While there is always some unpredictability about them, BVB only managed to draw 1-1 away at PSV in their round of 16 first leg but ended up winning the tie 3-1. Dortmund have ended up on the kinder side of the draw in the knockout stages, but they'll still have to overcome Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid to reach the semi-finals.

7. Bayern Munich

It looked like Bayern Munich weren't going to make the quarter-finals upon losing the first leg of the tie against Lazio, but they got the job done with an impressive 3-0 win at the Allianz Arena. Thomas Tuchel has won the Champions League before, but this is a really dysfunctional team that has been ravaged by injuries and would be a pretty surprising winner at this stage. The Bavarians have ended up on the tough side of the draw, weakening their chances of European glory. A trip to Arsenal in the quarters probably wasn't what Tuchel desired, with his side shipping goals at the worst times.

6. Barcelona

Barcelona comfortably eased past Napoli despite drawing in the first leg. Xavi's side have put together an unbeaten run since their manager announced he would be leaving at the end of the season and they will be buoyed by the side of the draw they have ended up on. However, if they do reach the final, they'll take on one of Man City, Real Madrid, Arsenal or Bayern, where they'll be major underdogs regardless of the opponents.

5. Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid have had some great patches of form this season and could feasibly finish second in La Liga. Los Rojiblancos managed to overturn a one-goal deficit against Inter at the Wanda Metropolitano in the last 16 to reach the quarter-finals, which is no mean feat considering how well the Italians have been playing this season. It's never easy to beat Atletico Madrid over two legs and the stage could be set for some Simeone-ball to lead them into the semi-finals and possibly beyond.

Arsenal have been hard to judge on their return to the Champions League. The Gunners hadn't competed in the competition since 2017 but players like Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice have enjoyed their first appearances in the tournament. They managed to create some history in their first knockout tie with Porto, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after David Raya's heroics in a penalty shootout at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are in electric form and will be the favourites to progress past Bayern despite their worrisome historical record against the Germans, but do they have the nouse to go all the way?

3. Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain's obsession with the Champions League hasn't been the main talking point in France's capital of late. Their participation in this season's tournament has largely gone under the radar after the departures of Neymar and Lionel Messi but PSG have made the quarter-finals and, in some respects, look more settled than in other campaigns. Yes, Kylian Mbappe is leaving, but he hasn't gone yet, keeps scoring goals and will be desperate to win the Champions League with PSG before he goes. Mbappe's goals could power the French giants past Barcelona, but it's difficult to trust the Parisiens to go all the way.

2. Real Madrid

It's hard to know what it would take for Real Madrid not to be taken seriously in the Champions League. Los Blancos sit top of La Liga and managed to knock out RB Leipzig in the round of 16. With players like Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde and a coach like Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid are still one of the most feared teams on the continent. They'll have to do it the hard way, however. Man City are their quarter-final opponents and the winners of that tie will then need to overcome Arsenal or Bayern to reach the final.

1. Manchester City

There's no doubt Man City are the favourites to win the Champions League again. The defending champions have got their best players fit and firing and are in ridiculously strong form. One thing that could potentially count against them is the Premier League title race looks set to go down to the wire, meaning chances for Pep Guardiola to rotate and rest his players ahead of European ties will be slim. Beyond that, there's little reason to think Man City won't lift the trophy again this season.

READ THE LATEST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NEWS, PREVIEWS & RATINGS HERE

Fifth Champions League spot: Is it time for Spurs fans to cheer on Arsenal?

Hopes of a fifth Champions League place for England took a hit this week as the five Premier League clubs in European action recorded only one win between them.

Liverpool were emphatically beaten by Serie A ’s Atalanta 3-0 at Anfield, leaving Jurgen Klopp’s team with a mountain to climb for the second leg in Bergamo on Thursday. West Ham United were also beaten by Bundesliga champions-elect Bayer Leverkusen , falling 2-0 at the BayArena.

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With Italy ’s extra spot all but ensured owing to strong continental performances from most of its clubs this season, the Premier League is battling with the Bundesliga to be the other league to claim an extra Champions League spot for the 2024-25 campaign.

That is because two extra places — created through the expansion of the Champions League from 32 teams to 36 — are awarded based on each nation’s seasonal coefficient, which is determined by how clubs perform in the three European club competitions this campaign.

According to Opta’s prediction model, England are still narrow favourites to snag the second extra Champions League spot, but Arsenal ’s second leg away to Bayern Munich is crucial. Manchester City can help proceedings, too, if they progress past Real Madrid at home on Wednesday.

So, what’s the picture heading into the European second legs? The Athletic explains below.

Why are there extra Champions League places on offer?

The Champions League will expand from the 32-team format to 36 teams at the beginning of next season. The Athletic has explained the format change in great detail, which you can find below.

How the new Champions League format works

Of those four extra group-stage slots, one will be given to the league that finishes this season fifth (currently France’s Ligue 1) in UEFA’s country ranking, which combines coefficient points accrued over the past five seasons.

One will be earned by a domestic title winner from one of the continent’s less prominent top flights via the ‘champions path’ qualifiers. The remaining two will go to the leagues whose clubs perform best across this season’s European competitions.

These latter two are being called the ‘European Performance Spots’ by UEFA and could see the fifth-placed Premier League team progress directly into next season’s new-look group stage.

Which nations are leading the race for an extra Champions League place?

Heading into next week’s second legs, Italy are almost guaranteed an extra Champions League spot next season, while Germany and England are neck and neck (on 16.785 and 16.750 points), although as referenced, Opta’s model is still giving the Premier League a 58 per cent chance of getting one of the two additional spots.

England had the most representatives in European competition at the beginning of the season (eight), but their seasonal coefficient was hurt by Newcastle United and Manchester United finishing bottom of their Champions League groups. Had they finished third, they would have entered the Europa League knockout stages, thus giving both sides opportunities to accrue more points.

Of the six teams who made it past Christmas, only Brighton & Hove Albion have been knocked out. They did at least add a couple of coefficient points to the tally by winning 1-0 against Roma in the second leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie.

Before the quarter-finals began, Opta made England considerable favourites (70.6 per cent, with Germany on 29.1 per cent) to earn the extra fifth Champions League spot for next season, but the underperformance of Premier League sides this week has allowed the Bundesliga clubs to close the gap significantly.

It seems unlikely that England will have representation in the Europa League semi-finals. Liverpool have a history of European comebacks but a poor display this week at home to Atalanta leaves them as major underdogs.

Meanwhile, in London, it will take a sensational performance from West Ham to overcome a 2-0 deficit against Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen, a team who are yet to lose a game in any competition this season .

On the plus side, Aston Villa continue to go well in the Europa Conference League, beating Lille 2-1 at home in the first leg. They are favoured to progress to the semi-finals, where they will face Olympiacos or Fenerbahce.

That means England’s best chance of securing an extra spot in the Champions League lies in Europe’s top club competition. Progression for Manchester City against Real Madrid would help the cause significantly. After drawing 3-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, they welcome Madrid to the Etihad next Wednesday, where they beat the same opponents 4-0 in the second leg of last year’s Champions League semi-finals.

Arsenal are also on level terms, having drawn 2-2 against Bayern, but they have to travel to Germany for the second leg. If Arsenal get past Bayern and City beat Real, they will face each other in the semi-finals, guaranteeing an English club will make the final. That should seal a fifth Champions League spot for England, particularly if Atletico Madrid can knock out Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Atletico looked set to beat Dortmund by a two-goal margin, but Sebastien Haller’s goal in the 81st minute at the Civitas Metropolitano keeps Edin Terzic’s side firmly in the tie at 2-1.

Spain’s La Liga has three of the eight Champions League quarter-finalists this season, but the performance of its teams in the Europa League and Europa Conference League makes it almost impossible for them to break into the top two places in this season’s coefficient. They could still have a part to play, however, as an Atletico win would damage Germany’s hopes, leaving the responsibility on just Bayern and Leverkusen.

Who would benefit from the extra Champions League place?

Continued progress in the Europa Conference League might be doubly beneficial for Unai Emery and his Aston Villa players.

Villa sit fifth in the Premier League, level on points with Tottenham Hotspur in fourth, though Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs have a game in hand. Villa have recently shown signs of decline from their excellent early season form, but Tottenham still have to play Arsenal, City and Liverpool in their final seven games of the league season.

Arsenal’s progression in the Champions League could be crucial to Spurs’ hopes of playing in the competition next season. It leaves Tottenham fans with the dilemma of wanting their north London rivals to beat Bayern and boost the Premier League’s coefficient while also hoping they do not get their hands on a first Champions League trophy before Spurs do.

In Germany, Dortmund could directly affect their prospects of playing Champions League football next season as they sit fifth in the Bundesliga. With six games remaining in their league season, they are level on points with fourth-placed RB Leipzig , who they will play on April 27.

In Italy, Roma are fifth, five points ahead of Atalanta in sixth. With Bologna sitting fourth, three points clear of Roma, and Italy’s fifth Champions League spot almost secured, they will likely make their first European Cup appearance since the 1964-65 season.

Football's best up-and-coming managers: Thiago Motta, a fascinating tactician

How can coefficient points be accrued?

As the above chart shows, there are plenty of points left on offer. With fewer teams left in Europe to win them, they are even more valuable and will have a greater difference in the overall ranking.

The coefficient contributing to that ranking is worked out as an average rather than a total to cancel out the advantage gained by nations with more European representatives. The equation is simple: the number of points accumulated by teams in a nation divided by the number of competing teams.

So, as eight English teams were competing in Europe at the start of the season, each of their points are divided by eight.

Here is how each country accumulates those points:

UCL = UEFA Champions League, UEL = UEFA Europa League, UECL = UEFA Europa Conference League

2 – All wins from the group stage (UCL, UEL, UECL) 1 – All wins in qualifying and play-off matches (UCL, UEL, UECL) 1 – All draws from the group stage (UCL, UEL, UECL) 0.5 – All draws in qualifying and play-off matches (UCL, UEL, UECL) 4 – Group stage bonus participation (UCL) 4 – Round of 16 bonus participation (UCL) 4 – Group winners (UEL) 2 – Group runners-up (UEL) 2 – Group winners (UECL) 1 – Group runners-up (UECL) 1 – Each round clubs reach from the round of 16 (UCL, UEL) 1 – Each round clubs reach from the semi-finals (UECL)

What is the breakdown for the extra places?

Assuming the extra spots will go to two of Italy, England or Germany, fifth place will enter the Champions League, and they will have eight (rather than seven) places in Europe.

If England wins the fifth spot, the European picture will look like this:

• Champions League: First to fifth in the Premier League
• Europa League: Sixth and the FA Cup winners
• Europa Conference League: Carabao Cup winners

If the domestic cup winners finish in the top six, those who finish in seventh and eighth will gain a place in Europe.

If the Bundesliga and Serie A win it, their European picture will look like this:

• Champions League: First to fifth in their respective first divisions
• Europa League: Sixth and cup winners
• Europa Conference League: Seventh

If a team wins the Europa League but fails to qualify for the Champions League, their domestic league could have six places in UEFA’s premier competition — the five places awarded by coefficient performances plus the Europa League winners.

Owing to West Ham’s first-leg defeat to Leverkusen and the strong likelihood that Liverpool will finish in a Champions League spot, this situation is unlikely to occur in England this season.

(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

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Elias Burke is a staff writer covering U.S. soccer. He previously covered West Bromwich Albion and Derby County for The Athletic. He is based in Los Angeles. Follow Elias on Twitter @eliasburke Follow Elias on Twitter @ eliasburke

Who will win Real Madrid vs. Manchester City? UEFA Champions League predictions, picks and odds

The UEFA Champions League quarter-finals resume this week with first legs on Tuesday and Wednesday after a four-week break. Eight teams will be in action.

Manchester City will face Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Manchester City is entering the upcoming match with high confidence after their comfortable victory in the round of 16 against Copenhagen, winning 6-2 on aggregate. The team has set its sights on winning the UEFA Champions League title consecutively this season. In the previous season, they secured a win against Real Madrid with a 5-1 aggregate in the semifinals match.

Real Madrid, the current leaders of La Liga , managed to edge past RB Leipzig by a 2-1 aggregate to secure their spot in the quarter-finals. Their last match was played nine days ago and they now face a tough challenge, with only one win in their last six meetings against Manchester City. Additionally, they have drawn three of their previous seven games in all competitions.

The winner of this tie will face the winner of Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

Champions League: Draw lists for quarter-finals and semi-finals of annual European soccer tournament

Real Madrid vs. Manchester City Predictions

Sporting news : real madrid 2-1 man city.

Kyle Bonn writes: "Pep Guardiola has managed to keep the ship afloat well amidst injuries and form issues, and Phil Foden has carried this team when necessary, but it feels as if a defeat has been coming for some time. They certainly won't find themselves out of the two-legged matchup, but walking away from the Bernabeu with a result would be impressive."

The Standard : Real Madrid 1-1 Man City

Jonathan Gorrie writes: "City are generally fairly cautious away from home in big European games, so it’s difficult to see them giving too much away."

Pickswise : Over 2.5 goals

Staff writes: "One thing that has been a consistent feature of the 4 meetings between Real Madrid and Manchester City over the last two seasons has been goals, with 17 of them have been scored in total and over 3.5 goals has landed in 3 of those 4 meetings. Both teams have found the net in 6 of Manchester City’s last 8 games in all competitions and injuries to Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake significantly weaken their defense. Against a Real Madrid team that has seen 5 of their last 7 games in this competition go over 2.5 goals, a high-scoring matchup looks likely once again."

Real Madrid vs. Manchester City: Odds and lines for Champions League match

Manchester City favorites to defeat Real Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League match according to the  BetMGM soccer odds . Looking to wager? Check out the  best mobile sports betting apps  offering  sports betting promos in 2024 .

Odds listed are as of Tuesday morning.

• Lines: Manchester City (+145); Draw (+250); Real Madrid (+175)
• Over 2.5 goals (-145)
• Under 2.5 goals (+105)

How to watch Real Madrid vs. Manchester City: TV channel and streaming

When: Tuesday, April 9 at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT

Where: Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain

Cable TV: CBS

Streaming: Paramount+

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