Premier League champions Manchester City are odds-on with all online bookmakers to win their first Champions League trophy on Saturday night against the 2012 winners, Chelsea.
It is the second time in three seasons that the Champions League final has featured two English teams, and Chelsea, who secured qualification for next year’s competition despite losing to Aston Villa on Sunday, are looking to avoid coming out of this season empty-handed having already suffered defeat in the FA Cup final.
City, with the EFL Cup and Premier League in their back pocket, are going for a historic treble, and Pep Guardiola’s men are priced at 1.83 with Bet365 to win in 90 minutes, and 1.40 to lift the trophy.
A Chelsea triumph is priced at 3.00, and you can back them at 4.20 to get the job done without the need for extra time or penalties.
City have been the favourites to win the Champions League all season long. Priced at 6.50 when the market opened, the Citizens have shortened as the competition has progressed, with only Bayern Munich matching their odds until they were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain.
Their opponents, meanwhile, were as big as 34.00 back in August, and remained big outsiders until they saw off Atletico Madrid in the last 16 and saw their price finally hit single figures.
When Thomas Tuchel’s team were drawn against FC Porto in the quarter-finals, the draw opened up for the Blues and after dealing with the Portuguese outfit, Real Madrid were swept aside somewhat comfortably.
Chelsea got the better of City when the sides met in the league on May 8th, but their form has dipped since, and they were fortunate not to drop out of the top four on the final day of the campaign.
City have not been at their imperious best in May, having lost to Brighton 10 days after the Chelsea defeat, but it’s fair to say that their attention has been solely on the Champions League final and Guardiola’s team selection in some fixtures serves as evidence of that.
Tuchel is sweating on the fitness of N’Golo Kante and Edouard Mendy, both of whom missed out at Villa Park through injury. City, on the other hand, have no concerns over any key members of their squad.
Sergio Aguero will leave the club after the final, and the Argentine forward leads the way in the first goalscorer market at 5.00. Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Gabriel Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, and Ferran Torres are all ahead of Chelsea’s shortest-priced candidate, Olivier Giroud at 7.50.
Both teams to score is priced at 2.05 for ‘Yes’ and 1.70 for ‘No’, while the Asian goal line is set at 2.25, with the ‘Under’ being the slight favourite.
The Champions League final kicks off at 9 pm local time at Estadio do Dragao in Porto, Portugal. 12,000 Chelsea and City fans are able to attend.
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Explanation: player statistics (a/b c)
a - games played this season
b - goals scored
c - team position (d - defender, m - midfielder, f - forward, g - goalkeeper).
