We’ll have an all-English UEFA Champions League final this season as Chelsea will face Manchester City in Istanbul on May 29. Kickoff time has not been set, but most likely it will be 7 GMT/2 EST. It will be televised on BT Sport in the UK and CBS in the US.
This match will mark the first time that an American will feature in the UCL final, in Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic. Captain America came on tonight in the 67′ as a substitute and closed the game out. Up 1-0, Chelsea were looking for breathing room, up 1-0 in the match and 2-1 in the tie, but needing one more scoring strike to finish Real Madrid off.
Christian Pulisic & Mason Mount have come a long way ? pic.twitter.com/coLyYHd9UM
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 5, 2021
In the 88′ Pulisic found Mason Mount, who slotted it home to make it 2-0 and clinch Chelsea’s first UCL final appearance since 2012. It was an absolutely huge moment for the pair of Zoomer Blues, an Anglo-American alliance who were once teammates in the Chelsea Youth Academy.
“It’s crazy that we go that far back so it is special to be on this stage and doing this together,” Pulisic said after the match.
The Pennsylvanian Messi became the youngest player with both a goal and an assist in a single UCL semifinal round since 2010-11. While he is the only American who is likely to play in the final, he won’t be the only Yankee who will be there. Manchester City No. 2 Zack Steffen will be a part of the festivities as well.
“There’s nothing like a Champions League Final,” Mount said after the game. “You can’t replicate that.”
Christian Pulisic sets up Mason Mount, who slots it home. The Anglo-American Gen Z partnership kills off #RealMadrid and sends #ChelseaFC through to the #UCL final.
Pulisic will become the first American ever to play in a #UCLfinal #ChelseaRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/tgEkkrZITB— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) May 5, 2021
Chelsea and City will meet this weekend in the Premier League as well, and that means when they clash in Istanbul later this month it will marke the third time the two English giants have met, in three different competitions, in six weeks.
Tonight also saw Chelsea FC become the first club to send both their men’s and women’s teams to the UCL final in the same season.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.