For the second in three years, the biggest club event in European football will be contested between two English sides. The Champions League trophy, arguably the most popular global showpiece event in club football, will return to England, underlining the Premier League’s status as Europe’s premier tournament.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are 90 minutes away from the trophy they so desperately crave but a Chelsea side transformed in recent months stand in their way in Saturday’s all-English Champions League final in Porto, the Portuguese city which was named as a last-minute host.
It is a match-up that serves as another reminder of the strength of the cash-rich English game.
And these are the two clubs whose own transformations in the last two decades that have done the most to change forever the landscape of the English top flight.
The clubs maybe English, there will be a few big English names on the pitch, but the behind-the-scenes narrative is completely…