| Match report
A Champions League quarter
final second leg that defies description saw Spurs win through on
away goals in the last minute, but not through a goal of their own,
but a VAR decision that chalked off Raheem Sterling's 92nd minute
goal that would have seen Manchester City progress to the semi-final
in Tottenham's place.
As the teams were announced,
Alderweireld, Son and Trippier returned to the Spurs starting
line-up with Dele and Lucas both included in the side to face City,
who brought back their big guns for this leg, although they were
missing Fernandinho and left Sane on the bench. City had
issued flags and put up banners to try and make it obvious this was
their home, but the Spurs fans were making themselves heard despite
being massively outnumbered.
The way the game was going
early doors, it looked to be in City’s favour when Bernardo SIlva
blatantly pushed Rose, who was shepherding the ball into touch in
the first minute and got nothing more than a few words from the
referee from Turkey. It looked even more that way, when de
Bruyne came in from the right and played the ball across left to
Sterling, who came inside Trippier and bent a shot past Lloris into
the net just inside Hugo’s left hand post with less than four
minutes on the clock.
It looked as though it might
be a long night, (which it ended up being), but in the seventh
minute, Dele played a pass from a central position through to find
Eriksen’s run, but Laporte got in the way, only succeeding in laying
it into Son’s path on the 18 yard line and his low first-time shot
beat Ederson, who perhaps had gone one way too early to
recover his positioning. Cue joy in the Spurs section and that
became even more fevered, when, three minutes later, Lucas made a
great run and committed players, after nicking the ball away from
Laporte who had over-run it, before passing to Eriksen. He swept the
ball left and Sonny took a touch inside Walker to bend one around
Ederson into the top corner to turn the game on its head. City
were shocked that Spurs had come and scored twice so early, compared
to their timid first leg performance, when they rarely threatened
our goal.
That wasn't to be the case in this match, with Sterling and Bernado
Silva operating wide and stretching the play, Spurs struggled to
keep them in check, so, when Aguero moved the ball forward and
played it right to Bernardo Silva, in lots of space and shot at
goal. It was going wide and the ball hit Danny Rose and left Lloris
stranded as it crept inside his near post to make it 2-2.
City's crowd roared as it brought them back to within a goal of
levelling and two from going through. You know that City are
prolific at home, so it was going to be a tough task for Tottenham
to keep them out.
The game took a bit of a breather after the hectic first 12 minutes.
David Silva struck a free-kick over the bar and Eriksen had sent a
25 yard shot sailing over the bar, but then from a quick free
kick, de Bruyne slid a ball all the way through the six yard box for
Sterling to run the ball in at the far post. It was becoming a crazy
game and there was still 70 minutes to go.
Tottenham were holding onto
possession better and Dele almost freed him beyond the City back
line, but a City player just stopped it getting through. City then
reverted to their tactics of the first leg by crashing into tackles
and getting away with it. Pochettino’s diamond was working in the
attacking sense, but defensively, it was leaving us a little exposed
at times. Winning possession at the back, Spurs were creating their
own problems by giving it straight back to them. It needed some calm
heads with a long way to go and the next goal would be crucial in
the outcome of the game. Sissoko opened up his groin and despite
getting treatment and carrying on, in the end, he has to be
substituted in the 40 th minute by Fernando Llorente. Then the
idiotic referee booked Moussa for going off the pitch at the
half-way line, as players are supposed to do. The substitution would
affect Spurs, as Dele dropped back and they would lose the strong
running of Sissoko and Llorente wouldn’t be as quick closing people
down.
However, Fernando was involved in move straight away that saw
Eriksen hit Son on the left and he took on Walker into the
box, before stepping over the ball and hitting a shot across Ederson,
but wide of the far post. De Bruyne had a left foot effort from 22
yards after coming inside, but it was low and lacked real power to
trouble Lloris unduly. Trippier pulled on Sterling’s arm and
conceded a free kick on the City left in added time and when de
Bruyne swung it in, with it being chested down by Toby, with the
home fans crying for a penalty.
The half-time break came as a slight relief to the non-stop action
and after it, Spurs fans were finding their voice, but de Bruyne’s
run to the edge of the box was halted when Son pulled him back and
gave away a free kick 22 yards out in the middle of goal, but he put
it over the bar. The worse thing was that Son received a yellow card
and that ruled him out of the next European game for Tottenham. Five
minutes into the half, a low ball across picked out Sterling, who
hit it straight at Hugo in the six yard box and then the loose ball
was shot wide and a goal kick resulted, even though City fans, as
always, wanted a penalty.
Pressure was building and Spurs could not get the ball away. When
Son lost the ball on halfway on the left, it came to Aguero and he
slipped it to de Bruyne, who struck it well, but Hugo dived to push
it wide with the upper hand. It like one of the saves he made
against Dortmund in the second leg and was a great reflex stop. Rose
was booked for a foul in the build up and although the corner was
cleared, the ball stayed in our final third.
David Silva flashed a header over at the near post from a free-kick,
then Son nearly got away, but couldn’t get away from Kompany, but
the second phase saw a cross onto Llorente’s head and he forced
Ederson to a save, as did Eriksen with a shot from the resulting
corner. Just when it looked as though we were getting into the
game again, it became 4-2 to City when de Bruyne ran at our defence
and the ball was played through to Aguero, inside the right channel
in the box, who powered a shot past Lloris at his near post to give
them the aggregate lead.
To shore things up, Guardiola brought on Fernandinho for David
Silva, but it was Tottenham who looked like they needed shoring up,
as they frequently gave the ball away in midfield and put pressure
on our back four. The Spurs players were looking tired and unaware
of what was going on around them ,allowing City to take the ball off
them to easily. Trippier played a ball down the right side of
the box to Son, who was denied a shot by Ederson coming out to meet
him, but the keeper didn’t do so well from the corner, stretching at
the far post and giving away another corner. The ball came in
from our left by Trippier and the ball, flicked on at the near post
by Toby, hit Llorente and went in at the near post.
Pandemonium !! It looked as though it came off his hip, but
the VAR came into play and the ref looked at it on the replay before
pointing to the centre spot and at 4-4, Spurs were back level on
aggregate, with the benefit of away goals.
Spurs almost went ahead on the day, with Eriksen having a shot
blocked and as City came away with the ball, Wanyama bundled de
Bruyne over and got a yellow card. Silva went for goal and it took a
deflection wrong-footing Lloris, but it went wide. Gundogan then
smashed one over the top and Aguero headed Walker’s cross at goal,
but within Lloris’ reach as he dived to his right.
Ben Davies came on for Moura and Rose pushed forward into midfield,
while Mendy went off and Sane came on for City, which was not good
news for Spurs, as he was adding pace against a tiring side.
Eriksen tried a 55 yard effort on goal, as he was left with little
option, but Ederson was back behind it and then Gundogan volleyed
Sane’s header back from the far post on their left, but way too
high. When Tottenham did get the ball to move forward, there
were few players getting up with play and it got turned over, with
City coming back each time. All you could hear now was Spurs fans,
as the home crowd were not even whistling and booing when Spurs had
the ball. Nerves had set in. Tottenham were also
dropping deep and that would only bring City forward more.
Pochettino threw his last change in, when Davinson replaced Rose for
the five added minutes.
Two minutes into added time, Spurs had repelled a City attack and
played the ball out to Eriksen. Christian lost the ball
25 yards out, with three players around him and Aguero passed it
inside to Sterling on the right of the Spurs goal, ten yards out.
The England winger stepped inside and shot past Lloris. The
blue areas of the ground went barmy ! They were cheering,
chanting and Guardiola did a Mourinho and sprinted down the line to
join the celebrations. But wait. It ain't over to the Video
Assistant Referee reviews. VAR came to Tottenham’s rescue and
the referee disallowed the goal for offside, with the video screens
breaking the news to the City fans and breaking their hearts at the
same time ! Guardiola was down on his knees and Pochettino,
who had thrown his coat off in disgust, was suddenly the one
enjoying the moment.
Spurs camped on their 18-yard line to try and prevent City breaking
through and then Fernandinho played the ball in, but Vertonghen
blocked it with the expected City claims for a penalty. Spurs played
it away and Dele got away on the left and held the ball up well.
Ben Davies supported him and received the ball before he played Son
in on the right, but it was put out for a corner by Sane. Then
the final whistle saw the Tottenham section go mental, with the
players ecstatic, but the majority of the ground was stunned into
silence. So many times, we have suffered and this time it was
someone else's turn.
Little Tottenham, who have
nowhere near the funding City have and don't possess the greatest
manager in the world, had come to City and done what they needed to
for a semi-final place. Surely, the team and our manager will
be feted for what they are ... as Pochettino said ... "Heroes".
Was the game lost in the last minute here ? Were City robbed
by VAR not once but twice ? Well, Guardiola needs to look at
himself for not believing in his own philosophy, whereas Poch stuck
with the way we play and got his reward. We battered them at
home and were slightly second best in the Etihad, but were worth a
narrow defeat at the very least. By taking a cautious approach
in the first leg, Pep had no away goal to play with and as soon as
Spurs started scoring, they were always chasing that extra goal.
The team all put in a shift,
with nobody shying away from their responsibilities. Wanyama
didn't have a great game, but kept going until the end and the
effort put in was massive. The rewards will hopefully match that
input.
But in the short term, they
have to return on Saturday and do it all over again to try and
maintain our top four placing. City only have the League to
play for now, as surely they will roll over Watford in the Cup
Final, so they know that a win over Spurs, in their hardest
remaining game, will set them up for the run-in.
For the moment though, let's
bask in this moment that most of us haven't known in our life-time
and while we will be slagged off for "only" getting to the
semi-final, it is still progress and console yourself by imagining
what the Gooners, Irons, Chelsea and Leicester fans were feeling
like when Sterling scored at the end of the game ... and how they
must have felt a minute later !!
Stan Chun |
