Chelsea have won the Champions League, after battling it out in front of thousands of English fans in Porto, Portugal.

Chelsea’s 1-0 victory signals a bitter blow for Manchester City, with the club having never won European club football’s top prize.

The west London club had led at half-time, after a 42nd minute goal from Kai Havertz, and was able to hang on despite City peppering their goal with shots in the dying minutes of the game.

The all-English final was due to be played in Istanbul, Turkey, but after it was placed on the travel red list by the government, UEFA moved the game to Portugal’s Estadio do Dragao.

There were 12,000 ticket holders from Chelsea and Manchester City arriving over the weekend and many more had travelled in the hope of getting one, representing the biggest mass departure from the UK since before the pandemic.

Fans in the city told Sky’s sports correspondent Martha Kelner that it felt as if COVID had not been around there at all, hailing the “normality” the game brought.

Porto had taken a big risk by offering to host the game, with COVID-19 cases beginning to rise again in the UK, and the emergence of the more transmissible Indian variant.

Related posts:

Limits on weddings in England to be scrapped from 21 June – but rules on singing and dancing remain All over-18s in England able to book jab by end of week, NHS boss expects Where should you wear face masks on public transport in England? ‘Mona Lisa’ of stamps returns to Britain for first time in 143 years ‘Email me’, says PM as he calls for ideas for his ‘levelling up’ plan – as critics attack ‘vapid’ slogan Woman who stabbed husband to death took over 999 call and refused to give aid, court hears Bravery awards for police officers following eye-gouging attack in water-logged storm drain ‘Alarming’ falls in life expectancy before COVID hit, new data shows – see where is worst in England Man dies and woman critically injured in west London stabbings Refusal to increase killer’s sentence after he strangled woman during sex is ‘ultimate victim-blaming’ Husband of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe ends hunger strike as his daughter ‘needs two parents’ Arrests made after Extinction Rebellion protests block Lord Mayor’s Show in London