Top Winners and Losers After Men's Champions League 2021 Final

Chelsea forward Kai Havertz picked a great time to score his first-ever UEFA Champions League goal.

The 21-year-old's 42nd-minute goal was all the Blues needed to beat Manchester City 1-0 to win their second-ever Champions League final.

Chelsea otherwise had the upper hand over Manchester City en route to a decisive win. Here's a look at the two biggest winners and the biggest loser on the night.

    

Winner: Kai Havertz

Havertz is naturally the evening's biggest winner thanks to a brilliant run and move past Manchester City goaltender Ederson to put the ball into an empty net.

The German hadn't scored in his first 19 Champions League matches for Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea, but that drought didn't matter much after he scored the decisive goal in the final:

He's also the youngest German player to score in a men's Champions League final in 24 years.

The Tactical Times praised Havertz's general performance too:

Havertz has faced criticism while struggling to make an impact in his first season in west London after arriving in the summer for a club-record £72 million fee, but he came through when his team needed him the most.

               

Winner: Thomas Tuchel

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel deserves much credit for putting Havertz in the starting XI, and he got it from numerous analysts, including Liam Twomey of The Athletic.

Chelsea has made significant strides in general under Tuchel, who took the job four months ago. Soccer analyst Kristian Jack pointed out a few elements in their goal that pointed to improvements made by the German:

Overall, Tuchel was the master tactician over Guardiola en route to leading Chelsea to its third victory over Manchester City since April 17.

    

Loser: Pep Guardiola

On the other hand, this was not a good night for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, whose decision not to include a defensive midfielder in the starting XI backfired.

Jonathan Smith of Goal.com and Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News pointed out the issue:

Guardiola curiously left both defensive midfielders, Rodri and Fernandinho, on the bench in an unprecedented move this season:

Freelance football writer Constantin Eckner pointed out more issues with space:

The Manchester City back line struggled throughout and almost allowed a second goal courtesy of Christian Pulisic:

On the other end, Manchester City only had one shot on target, which was a shocking output for a team that was coming off a Premier League title-winning season that had seen them score 83 goals in 38 games.

With all that, Chelsea is the Champions League winner for the first time since 2012, when the Blues beat Bayern Munich.