Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 00:20• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 00:22

Chelsea qualified for the Champions League final on Wednesday evening at the expense of Real Madrid. After the 1-1 draw in Spain, a 2-0 victory at home followed. After 2008 and 2012, it is the third time that the Londoners have reached the final battle of the European Cup / Champions League: of all English clubs, only Manchester United and Liverpool (both four times) succeeded. Thomas Tuchel became the first trainer ever to reach the Champions League final with different clubs in consecutive seasons. Last season, ‘his’ Paris Saint-Germain, the club where he was fired last December, lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.

In the final battle on May 29 in Istanbul, Chelsea will face Manchester City: it is the third time that two clubs from England meet in the final. That happened earlier in 2008 (Chelsea – Manchester United) and 2019 (Liverpool – Tottenham Hotspur). It is the eighth time ever that two clubs from one country are in the final. In that area, Spain is the record holder with three finals: in 2000 with Real Madrid – Valencia and in 2014 and 2016 with Real Madrid – Atlético Madrid.

View the summary of Chelsea – Real Madrid here

Edouard Mendy also kept an excellent game against Real Madrid and kept the zero in a Champions League game for the eighth time this season. That is the highest number for an English club goalkeeper in a single season. Chelsea is in any case working on a very strong defensive series under Tuchel. In the 24 official duels under the German, the zero was kept no less than 18 times: 75 percent. In the 84 official games under his predecessor Frank Lampard, only 26 games did not concede a goal: 31 percent.

Mason Mount, who made it 2-0, is at 22 years and 15 days the second youngest Englishman to score in a semi-final of the Champions League, after Wayne Rooney (21 years and 182 days) against AC Milan. Mount is also the first goal-setting Englishman in the Champions League semi-final since Frank Lampard in 2008.