Everything changed when the lineups dropped.
If you were sitting in the Estádio do Dragão on May 29, 2021, or just watching from your couch with a beer, the collective gasp from Manchester City supporters was audible across time zones. Pep Guardiola had done it again. He’d "overthought" it. Or at least, that’s the narrative that has hardened into concrete over the last few years.
The 2021 Champions League Final wasn't just a game; it was a tactical fever dream that ended with Thomas Tuchel hoisting the trophy and Kevin De Bruyne in tears. It’s been years, but honestly, the tactical choices made that night in Porto still dominate conversations about Guardiola’s legacy and Chelsea’s DNA as a "chaos club" that somehow always finds a way to win when things look bleakest.
The Team Sheet That Shook the World
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the lack of a defensive midfielder.
Pep decided to bench both Fernandinho and Rodri. Just think about that for a second. For an entire season, City had dominated the Premier League with a structured, disciplined anchor in the middle of the park. Then, in the biggest game in the club’s history, the anchor was tossed overboard. Ilkay Gündogan, a brilliant late-runner and playmaker, was asked to sit deep and protect the back four.
It didn't work. At all.
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Chelsea’s midfield, led by an absolutely possessed N'Golo Kanté, ate that space for breakfast. Kanté was everywhere. It felt like there were three of him. He wasn't just breaking up play; he was the springboard for every counter-attack that made John Stones and Rúben Dias look uncharacteristically frantic.
Mason Mount and Kai Havertz found pockets of space that simply shouldn't exist in a final of this magnitude. When you look back at the 2021 Champions League Final, the stats might tell you City had more possession (around 60%), but Chelsea had the control. Real control isn't about holding the ball; it's about making the opponent feel like they're walking through a minefield every time they lose it.
Kai Havertz and the Goal That Defined a Career
The goal itself was a masterpiece of simplicity and a tragedy of defensive positioning.
In the 42nd minute, Ederson played a ball out, City lost it, and Mason Mount turned with the kind of grace that makes scouts drool. He saw the gap. Oleksandr Zinchenko was caught slightly too far inside, and Kai Havertz—who had struggled for much of his debut season in London—made the run of a lifetime.
The pass from Mount was weighted perfectly. It sliced through the heart of the City defense like a hot knife through butter. Havertz rounded Ederson, the ball took a slight bobble off the keeper’s hand, and the German stayed composed enough to slot it into an empty net.
$1 + 0 = Chelsea$ lead.
The celebration was iconic. Havertz, often criticized for his languid style, looked like he finally belonged. For Chelsea fans, that moment validated the £72 million price tag. For City, it was the beginning of a long, painful second half.
The De Bruyne Injury and the Shift in Momentum
If the first half was a tactical struggle, the second half was an emotional rollercoaster.
Early in the second period, Kevin De Bruyne collided with Antonio Rüdiger. It was a nasty hit. Rüdiger took a yellow, but De Bruyne took the worst of it—a fractured nose and an orbital bone fracture. Seeing the talisman of the blue side of Manchester leave the pitch in tears, visibly dazed, felt like the air being sucked out of the stadium.
Phil Foden tried to step up. He’s a generational talent, obviously, but at that moment, he was a young kid trying to solve a puzzle that Thomas Tuchel had locked with a triple-deadbolt.
Tuchel’s Chelsea was a defensive juggernaut. They played a 3-4-2-1 that morphed into a 5-2-3 the moment they lost the ball. Andreas Christensen, who came on for an injured Thiago Silva, was flawless. César Azpilicueta played like a man possessed, at one point making a goal-saving clearance that defied physics.
Why the 2021 Champions League Final Tactical Setup Failed City
Critics often point to a few specific failures:
- Width without Purpose: Raheem Sterling started on the left, but Reece James played the game of his life. James essentially put Sterling in his pocket and kept the keys.
- The Empty Pivot: Without Rodri or Fernandinho, the transitions were too fast for City to track.
- False Nine Fatigue: Playing without a recognized striker (Sergio Agüero sat on the bench until the 77th minute) meant there was no physical presence to pin back Rüdiger or Silva.
Agüero’s late cameo was heartbreaking. This was his final game for City. The man who gave them "93:20" was brought on as a desperate roll of the dice. He barely had a sniff. When the final whistle blew, the contrast was jarring: the euphoria of the Chelsea bench sprinting onto the pitch versus Agüero walking off alone, realizing his era had ended without the one trophy he wanted most.
Thomas Tuchel’s Tactical Masterclass
We have to give credit where it’s due.
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Tuchel had only been in the job for four months. He took over a fractured Frank Lampard side and turned them into European champions. That’s insane. He beat Guardiola three times in six weeks leading up to that final—once in the FA Cup, once in the league, and finally in Porto.
He figured out the "City Code."
By sitting deep and using the pace of Timo Werner to stretch the lines, he forced City’s high line to respect the long ball. Even though Werner missed a couple of sitters early on (classic Timo), his movement created the gaps that Havertz eventually exploited.
The 2021 Champions League Final proved that in one-off games, a perfectly executed defensive structure will beat an experimental offensive one almost every time.
The Aftermath and the Legacy of Porto
So, what did we actually learn?
First, that Manchester City needed a true "9." This match was the catalyst for the Erling Haaland signing a year later. Pep realized that when the tactics get bogged down, you need a biological cheat code to bail you out.
Second, it cemented the "Underdog Chelsea" mythos. They aren't always the best team over 38 games, but in a knockout tournament, they are the team nobody wants to play. They won it in 2012 against the odds, and they did it again in 2021.
The game also changed how we view Guardiola. For a few years, the "overthinking" tag became a meme. He eventually shed it by winning the Treble in 2023, but Porto remains the one that got away. It was the night the most meticulous coach in world football tried to be too clever and got caught by a pragmatic German who kept things simple.
Key Takeaways for Football Students
If you’re looking to understand high-level football, watch the 2021 Champions League Final again, but don't watch the ball. Watch N'Golo Kanté’s positioning. Watch how he stays five yards away from the nearest City player, just waiting for the heavy touch.
- Structure beats Flair: In finals, the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. City made one big tactical mistake and one big defensive lapse.
- The Importance of the Pivot: You cannot win the biggest games in the world without someone to "clean up" the middle of the pitch.
- Adaptability: Tuchel’s ability to switch to a back five saved Chelsea when City started throwing the kitchen sink in the final ten minutes.
If you’re ever in a debate about who the better manager is, or why City took so long to conquer Europe, this match is your Exhibit A. It’s a masterclass in how small margins—a 10-yard gap in midfield or a mistimed run—decide the fate of billion-dollar projects.
To truly understand the tactical evolution of the modern game, your next step should be to compare the 2021 final's heat maps with the 2023 final against Inter Milan. Notice how Rodri’s presence in 2023 provided the stability that Gündogan was unfairly asked to provide alone in 2021. Studying these two matches back-to-back offers a complete education in how Guardiola finally solved his own European puzzle.