Man City v Chelsea Champions League final a world away from forgotten Wembley clash
LONDON: Manchester City and Chelsea head into Saturday’s Champions League final as English football superpowers, but 35 years ago both clubs had endured such hard times that reaching the much-maligned Full Members’ Cup final was cause for celebration.
While City’s showdown with Chelsea in Porto is a high-stakes clash, their first-ever meeting in a final came in a competition that was shunned by the elite and no longer exists.
At the start of the 1985/86 season, the beautiful game was an ugly mess in England as rampaging hooligans clashed in decaying stadiums and attendances fell.
Just months earlier, 39 people died…
