Manchester City 4 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur - JOTS, Stats Link & Post Match Reax | Vital Football

Manchester City 4 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur - JOTS, Stats Link & Post Match Reax

Johnny Baguette

Johnny Baguette

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Incredible Scenes As City Fall At The Last To Spurs & VAR In Epic Clash

Johnny On The Spot:#ALL-TIME-CLASSIC…There was no way that City and Ireland nemesis Cüneyt Çakir would let such an outstanding game of football pass by without putting his stamp on it in some way. The ruling out of Raz Sterling’s last minute hat-trick was the cruellest of blows.

This incredible football game had absolutely everything. Superb entertainment.

City started on the front foot and rewarded a berserking Etihad capacity crowd with a stunning start – a delicious Raheem Sterling opener on 4 minutes…nobody could have predicted what happened next as the game simply exploded. 17 minutes later and the score stood at 3-2 to The Blues.

Both sides were giving it everything they had, City pressing high and hard continually, breaking up Spurs rhythm but the Londoners kept on wriggling clear. Spurs had opened up with a midfield diamond which looked thoroughly exploitable from the wings, but it was the speed of their counter attacks led by the jet-heeled Son that rocked City in a bat-shit crazy opening frenzy of goals. One on one Son is lethal. Yet City’s resilience is beyond question under Josep Guardiola. They raced through the gears relentlessly and went in at the break 3-2 to the good. This was a thunderous occasion. We had a Champions league classic on our hands.

Yet without a doubt, Pep would have fully addressed that Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy needed to tighten up the left side of City’s defence. We had witnessed an outstanding attacking performance from The Blues but they needed to be tighter in possession. Spurs had played some lovely stuff but in truth they’d profited from 2 gifts.

The atmosphere ramped up again as the City fans raised the roof for the second half kick off. The champions simply tore into Spurs who found themselves utterly rocked and gasping for air. Despite a brief rally, they were again overwhelmed and Kun Aguero slammed in his 30th goal of the season – amazingly, City’s 154th. City continued the unrelenting pace of their attacks and went close repeatedly. You felt that City needed another goal.

Yet around the 70th minute of this pulsating, incredible game City eased off momentarily against a side you simply cannot do that against and Mauricio Pochettino’s men snuck in to put themselves within 15 minutes of a mouthwatering semi-final date with a brilliant Ajax.

City returned to pouring it on. The game rested on a knife edge yet again. It became scrappy and the tension was unbearable. Spurs rediscovered their shape and City looked a little dispirited but somehow found the extra gear that resulted in Sterling’s tie-winner being ruled out for a borderline offside with a timing and drama that only UEFA officials are capable of conjuring. The conspiracy theorist inside this correspondent couldn't help but wonder how they missed Llorente's arm connecting with the ball before he scored.

Both squads will be absolutely shattered tonight but there is literally no time to dwell upon it. Spurs fly south to Stansted tonight before flying back to Manchester on Friday ahead of a crucial Premier League fixture – episode three of a mentally and physically draining City-Spurs trilogy.

JB’s Man of The Match: Kevin De Bruyne. Utterly brilliant.

https://manchestercity.vitalfootbal...-fall-at-the-last-to-spurs-var-in-epic-clash/
 
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Christian Eriksen, who gave the ball away in the build-up to Raheem Sterling's disallowed goal, speaking to BT Sport:

"I must be one of the luckiest guys on the planet tonight. I thought it was all over but It was a fun game. It was a rollercoaster, we gave them a lot but also got a lot it was a weird game.

"After today we take a deep breathe, it will be a fairytale to play them and fun to be back in the Arena again."
 
Son Heung-min speaking to BT Sport:

"I have never seen something like this, It was tough and crazy but we are very proud of our team-mates. It was madness. Sometimes you are annoyed with VAR but today it is thank you. We fought together for 90 minutes. We showed unbelievable character and fight."
 
Our players don't do well under pressure. I thought with the Cap on, we would see it through. Again, Pep waited way to long to bring on Leroy. Spuds have the potential to ruin our season if we can't find a way to bounce back this weekend, and I'm not feeling confident.
 
Pep Guardiola:

"It is cruel but it is what it is and we have to accept it. After 20 minutes we were 3-2 up. In the second half we created a lot of chances and we scored the goals we needed. Unfortunately, it was a bad end to us so congratulations to Tottenham and good luck for the semi-finals.

"I support VAR but maybe from one angle Fernando Llorente's goal is handball, maybe from the referee's angle it is not."

On Raheem Sterling's goal that was ruled out:

"I watched the action and the people from above decided it was offside. We missed a penalty in the first leg but I am so proud of the players and the fans. I have never heard noise like that since I have been in Manchester but football is unpredictable."
 
Mauricio Pochettino on BT Sport:

“It was unbelievable - the way it finished. I am so happy, so proud. My players are heroes to be here. I am so happy for them, so happy for the fans.

“In a moment many things happened in your head, the disappointment was massive but they changed the decision. That is why we love football. Today we showed great character and great personality it was an unbelievable game.”
 
Jammy ***** but we shot ourselves in the foot in both legs, some of our attacking play tonight was top drawer, hopefully they can lift themselves for the weekend.
 
Bluedub said:
Jammy ***** but we shot ourselves in the foot in both legs, some of our attacking play tonight was top drawer, hopefully they can lift themselves for the weekend.
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I think we can the disappointment will have hit us hard but can Spurs up their game again, I don’t think so.

A lot of what ifs, but at least we gave it a go
 
It was an incredible game/occasion to have been part of, we didn't win but we can take a lot from it. As Buzz says - can Spuds up their game again so soon, we need a win at the weekend.
 
Noticeable for me that Gundogan stayed longest on the turf at the end.
If you're looking for signs, I reckon he's gone at the end of the season.
 
Feel sick this morning and not because of a dodgy curry.
I was so sure we would get through.
Lost for words really.
 
Well I thought it clipped his arm before going in off his hip so forgetting next season’s rules I would simply refer to the existing one about ‘gaining an advantage’. One of the comments (among the usual tripe and shallow garbage) makes an excellent point about what pictures the ref was shown and whether he had all the angles.

But it is one of those that is gutting if it is against you and you take if it is for you. We had one which clipped Sergio’s hand on the way into the net and of course Sterling’s stubbing his toe ‘penalty’.....

The players will be shell-shocked but there is zero time for feeling sorry for themselves.

This is where true sporting, personal and professional resilience needs to be shown, where you face a real test of character......less than 72 later they need to be back on their game against the same team to secure the three points.

Game on - the Premier League title is now the big prize. Back to back titles and the chance of a domestic treble, the first in the club’s history, are up for grabs. The chance to become legends at Manchester City FC beckons. How much do they want it?

Come on City!
 
Rising said:
Feel sick this morning and not because of a dodgy curry.
I was so sure we would get through.
Lost for words really.
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Same here C I had been thinking that we had better not take Ajax for granted.
Seems like Pep gives himself problems with our defenders and late substitutions.
We now need to watch out for the Scousers in the league and it’s a must that we revenge ourselves against the Spuds at the weekend
Fingers crossed.
 
Colin Is The King said:
Noticeable for me that Gundogan stayed longest on the turf at the end.
If you're looking for signs, I reckon he's gone at the end of the season.
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I hope not. He has started to show why Pep made him his first signing and has kept faith with him and is bound to get more playing time next season - Fernandinho is not getting any younger.
 
I think we'll beat Spurs on Saturday.

Saw a Twitter thread that involved Messers Burley and Marcotti from ESPN Sport, and doubts were raised that all angles were made available to the VAR, with Marcotti in particular, raising a mild conspiracy theory.
I'll try to dig out a view later that I saw published.

Driving home, Conor McNamara on R5L swore blind the VAR got it right, and he came out with a conspiracy theory of his own - that our and Spurs kit was so similar that explained the amount of lost ball!
That one had me puzzled for sure.

One thing I did notice from the UEFA full time report PDF - Son's yellow card rules him out of the first leg semi final - I don't know if this was covered on last night's BTS coverage.
 
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