Jamie Carragher reacts to "nightmare" Champions League final outcome

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Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher admitted the fact that both Manchester City and Chelsea have reached the Champions League final is an "absolute nightmare" – given both teams are fierce rivals of the Reds.

Tuesday night saw Pep Guardiola's Manchester City book their place in the final after comfortably seeing off Paris Saint-Germain, City running out 4-1 aggregate winners of the course of the two legs.

Chelsea knocked out 13-time winners Real Madrid in a semi-final contest that will make City sit up and take notice of their opponents in the final. The Blues have already got the better of City once this season – eliminating them from the FA Cup at the semi-final stage.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have struggled to recapture the European form that saw them win the Champions League in 2019, and have endured two early knockouts from the competition over the last two seasons at the hands of La Liga duo Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid respectively.

Though Carragher quipped that the line-up of the final was a "nightmare", he was quick to highlight how Chelsea deserved their place in the final, after "battering" Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid over two-legs, with Carragher claiming the score-line should have looked even more comfortable for Thomas Tuchel's side.

Speaking to CBS Sports, Carragher said: "It’s an absolute nightmare, really! Listen, I’m delighted in a way because it shows where English football is right now.

"After tomorrow [the Europa League semi-finals, played tonight – May 6] we could have four English teams in the European finals."

Carragher continued: "We go back to a big story in the last couple of weeks with the European Super League, I think it tells you why [Florentino] Perez and [Joan] Laporta at the two Spanish giants [Real Madrid and Barcelona] are desperate for a Super League because at this moment in time they can’t cope with the Premier League.

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"It’s not just the quality of football, it’s the finances of the teams and the great managers. You look at Thomas Tuchel, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp… at the moment the Premier League is the place to be and it’s a sorry tale for the rest of Europe because they seem a fair bit away.

"Chelsea didn’t just beat Real Madrid, they battered them over two games, it should have been four of five really."

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The win for Chelsea means boss Thomas Tuchel will now coach a side in the Champions League final for two successive seasons after his PSG side were beaten at the final hurdle by Bayern Munich last campaign.

The German manager was quick to praise his players efforts after they made light work of Real Madrid, claiming: "We deserved to win.

"First off it’s difficult because Real had a lot of possession and they made us suffer, But then we were dangerous with counter-attacks and never lost the hunger, never lost their desire to defend.

"Second half was even better, the structure to defend and in the second half, we could’ve scored much earlier. It’s a fantastic achievement and big congratulations to the team."

  • Champions League
  • Jamie Carragher
  • Pep Guardiola
  • Thomas Tuchel
  • Manchester City FC
  • Chelsea FC

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