Manchester City will be looking to win the European Cup for the first time in their history when they take on domestic rivals Chelsea in the final of the competition on Saturday evening.

The Citizens have already won two trophies this season, following their EFL Cup triumph with the Premier League title, and Pep Guardiola is going in search of his third Champions League trophy as head coach.

It would be fair to say that a number of leading European clubs have underperformed this term, but Man City are fully deserving of their spot in the showpiece event and will be looking to take the final step this weekend.

Of course, Man City and Chelsea are no strangers in domestic football, but Saturday's clash will be the first time that the two teams have met in Europe for 50 years - when they locked horns in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, with Chelsea recording a 2-0 aggregate success.

Here, Sports Mole has taken a look at Man City's route to the Champions League final, starting with the group stages and ending with their semi-final success over last season's finalists Paris Saint-Germain.

Group stages (First in Group C)

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In truth, Man City hardly needed to break a sweat in the group stages of this season's Champions League, as they breezed into the knockout round, winning five and drawing one of their six matches to collect 16 points, which ultimately left them three points clear of second-placed Porto at the summit.

Guardiola's side actually fell behind at home to Porto in their opening group match on October 21, but goals from Sergio Aguero, Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres saw the Manchester giants put an important three points on the board.

Three more points and indeed three more goals arrived away to Marseille in their second fixture, with Torres, Gundogan and Raheem Sterling making it a comfortable trip to France, and the Citizens were to fully take control of the section in their third match at the start of November.

This time, Olympiacos were on the end of a 3-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium, as Torres, Gabriel Jesus and Joao Cancelo made it three straight wins.

Man City's spot in the round of 16 was secured with two games to spare on November 25, as a 1-0 success away to Olympiacos, courtesy of a first-half strike from Foden, ensured that they would be present in the knockout stage of the competition.

As a result, it was a comfortable finish to Group C, with a goalless draw against Porto in their penultimate match enough to secure first position, before they finished with a 3-0 victory over Marseille, making it 13 goals scored and just one goal conceded during what was a comfortable group-stage campaign.

Round of 16 (vs. Borussia Monchengladbach)

Borussia Monchengladbach were not expected to provide a particularly stern test for Man City in the round of 16 and that ultimately proved to be the case. Indeed, Guardiola's side took full control of tie with a 2-0 success in the away first leg in Budapest, with Bernardo Silva and Jesus on the scoresheet.

The two teams again met in Budapest for the second leg in the middle of March, and Kevin De Bruyne and Gundogan both scored in the first 18 minutes to take the match away from Gladbach, who never threatened to make it an uncomfortable knockout-round tie for the English giants.

Quarter-finals (vs. Borussia Dortmund)

Borussia Dortmund were the team waiting in the quarter-finals of the competition, and the presence of goal machine Erling Braut Haaland made BVB a potentially very tricky opponent. As it transpired, two close games took place, but Man City proved to be the stronger team over 180 minutes of football.

The two sides were level at 1-1 heading into the final exchanges of their first leg in Manchester, but Foden came up with a winning goal in the 90th minute, as the English side secured a lead ahead of the return fixture. There was a lot of controversy during the match, though, with Dortmund's Jude Bellingham having a second-half goal disallowed when it perhaps should have counted.

Bellingham was on the scoresheet in the 15th minute of the second leg on April 14, but Riyad Mahrez and Foden both found the back of the net in the second period to ensure that Man City would advance to the semi-finals for the first time under the management of Guardiola.

Semi-finals (vs. Paris Saint-Germain)

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PSG, who had Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in their starting XI, took the lead in the 15th minute of their first leg in Paris at the end of April, and it would be fair to say that the French champions were enjoying themselves in the early exchanges.

De Bruyne scored a crucial equaliser for Man City in the 64th minute, though, before Mahrez's left-footed free-kick went through the ball and beat PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas to hand the English side a 2-1 lead in the 71st minute.

PSG were crucially missing Mbappe through injury for the second leg on May 4, with the France international ultimately an unused substitute, and the attacker's absence against Man City at the Etihad Stadium cost his side.

In truth, it was a comfortable second leg for Man City, as Mahrez scored twice in a 2-0 win to make it a 4-1 aggregate success over Mauricio Pochettino's side.

Guardiola appears to have already settled on his Champions League XI, with De Bruyne set to play through the middle, and Sterling, Jesus and Aguero expected to miss out on spots in the starting side.

Man City have only conceded four times en route to the final – the same as Chelsea – which is the lowest total for two finalists since 2006, suggesting that it will be a tight encounter in Porto, and it would be a devastating blow for the Citizens if they were to fall at the final hurdle.