Arsene Wenger has said Manchester City could not find a way through the Chelsea defence because of Thomas Tuchel’s brilliant strategy in Saturday’s Champions League final.
According to Wenger, the positioning of two Chelsea inside forwards; Mason Mount and Kai Havertz, was the key to their success.
“I must say that what Tuchel did well is that he played Mount and Havertz more inside defensively,” the former Arsenal boss told beIN SPORTS.
“So Manchester City could never find a way through the middle and had to go wide where Chelsea were quite strong.
“Manchester City had a big tactical problem they could not sort out.
“They’re not balanced, they did not find a way to play incisive football and Chelsea stopped them very well.”
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel said he had sensed before the Champions League final that his side would win on Saturday.
Tuchel guided Paris Saint-Germain to last season’s Champions League final which they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
PSG sacked the German in December but he was almost immediately hired by Chelsea and led the Russian-owned club to the second Champions League victory in their history thanks to a single goal from Kai Havertz in Porto.
“You know I was so grateful to arrive a second time (in the final after doing so with PSG last year) but this felt different. I told people before somehow it was,” Tuchel told BT Sport.
He paid tribute to his “unbelievable” players.
“It was an incredibly tough fight, what a fight. Today they were determined to win this. We wanted to be the stone in their (City’s) shoe.
“I told everyone to step up and to be more brave with the ball.
“Kai was strong and delivered again. He has a great heart.”
