SUMMARY:
Having won 1-0 in the first-leg at home, Tottenham Hotpsur were faced with the task of holding off one of the best attacking forces in the world for 90 minutes on their home turf. This game felt less like a football match and more like a Shakespearean drama with a twisting plot line that led both teams to believe they would triumph, but ultimately ended in great tragedy for one of the sides.
First Goal (Manchester City)
This high-octane football match kicked-off and no later than the fourth minute we saw the first goal. A marauding run through midfield from Kevin De Bruyne led to him playing the ball wide to Sterling who cut inside onto his right foot to whip one inside the far post from the top of the box.
Second Goal (Spurs)
Things appeared to be going very well for City until three minutes after scoring a through ball from Dele was intercepted by Laporte, but immediately played into the path of Son who punished City’s mistake by shooting under Ederson’s foot into the back of the net.
Third Goal (Spurs)
Just as Manchester City had begun to wipe the blood from their nose, Son struck again three minutes later, Laporte again, took a heavy touch under no pressure and conceded the ball to Lucas Moura. He played it to Eriksen at the right corner of the box who then squared it to Son at the top of the box to unleash a beautifully caressed effort into the top right corner from 18 yards out. Spurs now leading 3-1 on aggregate.
Fourth Goal (Manchester City)
It is only the 11th minute and this game has turned into an absolute slug-fest. Kun Aguero gets the ball and drives at the Tottenham defense. This prompts the Tottenham defenders to swarm him, but this leaves Bernardo Silva open on the right wing and Aguero plays him into the right side of the box. Bernardo attempts to roll the ball past Lloris to the far post, but the ball deflects off of Danny rose sending it to the opposite corner deceiving Lloris and making the score 3-2 on aggregate and 2-2 on the night.
Everyone has a chance to catch their breath as Manchester City are able to keep hold of the ball preventing Tottenham from being able to spring another quick attack. The game presented a paradox of sorts in that Spurs were most dangerous when they were not in possession of the ball, because it meant when they win the ball Manchester City will be caught with many players very high up the pitch and they can then counter-attack quickly and catch them exposed. At the same time, Manchester City were at their most dangerous with the ball due to their overwhelming quality of ball movement and creativity, thus when Manchester City had the ball both teams were most dangerous and when Tottenham had the ball both teams were at their most tame. Manchester City had most of the ball in the match creating a back and forth fireworks show of a match.
Fifth Goal (Manchester City)
In the 21st minute, Manchester City score again through Raheem Sterling. Bernardo Silva has the ball on the right wing just outside the box. De Bruyne makes an overlapping run and Bernardo rewards his movement by giving him the ball. De Bruyne then plays a perfect ball across the box on the deck to Sterling who had made a run to the far-post to tap it in. 3-3 on aggregate, 3-2 on the night. City need one more to overcome Tottenham’s away goal advantage.
After the fifth goal. Tottenham settle the game down by having the ball for a period and as discussed, this slowed the game down significantly. Each team has their share of half-chances, but the half ends without another goal after a first quarter that resembled a drunken bar brawl.
Second-Half
Manchester City start the second half with apparent urgency to score their needed goal. Tottenham are barely holding on at the start of the second half and Lloris is forced into a couple of brilliant saves to keep his side ahead. Tottenham, however, still look most threatening on the break and create a few opportunities at the other end.
Sixth Goal (Manchester City)
In the 59th minute Manchester City score their third unanswered goal showing that their pressure is paying off and for the first time in the fixture, they are ahead. Again Kevin De Bruyne is at the heart of everything good for City and his powerful midfield run allows him to play Aguero, Manchester City’s all-time top goalscorer, into the Tottenham box who smashes the ball near-post from a tight angle to put City ahead. The ball is driven into the Tottenham goal like a dagger into their hearts and they wear their disappointment on their faces.
Tottenham break again through Son and create a corner for themselves. In the absence of Harry Kane, Tottenham could not have asked for a better performance from Heung Min Son. The corner is swung into the back-post and Ederson comes to claim it, but he can’t read it and the ball goes out for another corner-kick.
Seventh Goal (Spurs)
The corner is served into the near-post over two players and appears to clip Llorente slightly on the arm before hitting his hip to redirect it into the goal. Despite review, the goal stands and Tottenham are back on top due to the away goals rule.
The game ends with City pouring pressure onto Spurs and throwing players forward with reckless abandon. Their tenacity appears to have paid off in late stoppage time. Aguero is played into the box and and squares it to Sterling who hestates before slotting it in. The Etihad Stadium celebrates thunderously and it appears that City have crushed Spurs’ hearts. This game however is not done with providing drama. The goal is disallowed due to Aguero being marginally offside. On one side their was pure despair, on the other, pure ecstasy. It was a spectacle to witness how quickly human emotions can change and the shear tragedy human spirit can endure, such is the drama of football.
GOALKEEPERS:
EDERSON: A tough game for Ederson at the Etihad Stadium. No goalkeeper is content with conceding three goals at home, but it was the manner in which he conceded which, aside from Tottenham’s second goal, the Brazilian will feel as if he should have done better. In the beginning of the game, I noticed that Ederson chose to go long to Aguero despite having shorter options and did it at a few other times during the game. I believe this was a tactic employed by Pep Guardiola to make Tottenham wary of the ball over the top causing them to drop off when Ederson was in possession. This effectively dulled the ferocity of the Tottenham press as they had to keep the direct threat in mind. Ederson will feel he should have done much better to keep out Tottenham’s first goal. Dele was allowed to turn in front of the back-line and play a ball through which Laporte essentially passed into the path of Son. Son then struck the ball which went under Ederson’s foot to go into the goal. Son being completely unmarked at the top of the box I understand why Ederson attempted to read his body shape and I actually think it is the right decision from him given that he was initially out of position due to the unexpected error from Laporte. Son did not strike the ball as cleanly as he would’ve liked and the ball ended up closer to Ederson than he would’ve liked, his his body shape indicated he would find the bottom left corner. The mistake comes from him not making the save with his foot. Although he was leaning in the opposite direction, Ederson was still on his feet and the strike was slow enough that he had plenty of time to judge it and get a foot to it, unfortunate for him. Three minutes later Spurs struck again through Heung Min Son again and another mistake by Laporte. Laporte takes a very heavy touch at midfield under no pressure and the ball is stolen from him by Lucas Moura. Eventually, the ball finds its way to Son at the top of the box who bends it into the top corner viciously, Ederson with no chance. Other than taking command of the space behind his back line and keeping possession for his team which Ederson consistently does well, this match being no exception, he was largely unneeded after the early flurry of goals until the 58th minute when he was forced to make a save from a Fernando Llorente glancing header. Dele sent a ball in from the flank to the right of Ederson, initially the Brazilian thought about claiming it, but retreated after reading he wouldn’t get there and he set his feet. Llorente headed the chance into the ground barely to the right of Ederson and he was in a good position to push it away. In the 73rd minute Spurs score again. Despite the controversy of the ball striking Llorente’s arm before scoring the goal, the corner kick that led to him being in that position could have been prevented by Ederson. Manchester City had conceded a corner-kick and Ederson came out to catch it, but it only grazed his fingertips and he conceded the corner that ultimately led to the goal. Although he can do nothing about the goal directly, had he caught the ball or chose to leave it, perhaps the game would have a different result..
LLORIS: Although his team is now through to the Semi-Finals of the Champion’s League, Lloris would be disappointed with conceding four goals in the match. I felt that defensively Tottenham were very poor in the match and this will need to be addressed before entering the Semi-Finals with Ajax who are all too capable of exploiting faults in your defense. Hugo Lloris was seemingly left exposed early in the game when Sterling scored in the 4th minute. He cut in onto his right foot from the left wing and as he carried the ball across the top of the box, the Spurs defenders failed to stick a tackle on him. He finishes by whipping a shot that started outside the post and bent in leaving Lloris no chance. Again, in the 11th minute City score and again Lloris stranded by his defense. Bernardo receives the ball on the right flank of the box and aims for the far post, but his shot is deflected by Danny Rose into the opposite corner past Lloris who had dove to save the initial trajectory of the ball. In the 21st minute City score again and Lloris still has no chance and the ball is played across his six yard box, too far for him to collect, and Sterling taps it in at the back post. Despite conceding three goals already, in the 45th minute Lloris finally faces a shot he has a chance of saving when Kevin De Bruyne lets loose at the top of the box by hitting across his body with his left foot to Lloris’ near-post. Lloris lowers his center of gravity by bending at the knees and hips and pushes off his left foot to hold the ball low at his near-post. In the 50th minute Lloris is needed again, Bernardo dribbles to the touchline on the left flank and cuts the ball back to Sterling at the penalty spot. Sterling’s one time effort is headed slightly to the left of Lloris on the ground. Lloris then uses what I call the “sweep” technique to push it away before Danny Rose clears the rebound. Instead of a conventional low collapse dive to his left, the ball is moving to rapidly to get down it time, so Lloris takes a step to his left as if he were going to collapse, but subsequently pushes the ball away with his arms in the position of a front smother with his elbows together and thumbs facing away from one another. It is an unconventional technique, but sometimes this is required. Only 4 minutes later Lloris is forced into the save of the match from a mid-range Kevin De Bruyne effort. De Bruyne gets the ball at the top right of the box and strikes across his body with his right foot to Lloris’ far post to his right. Lloris has little time to react, but springs off his right foot and get a very strong top hand to the ball to push it around the post, amazing save. The fourth and final goal for City asked a few questions of Lloris. As Aguero was played into the right flank of the box, his angle was tight. Aguero smashes a ball near-post past Lloris. The French goalkeeper leaned to his right anticipating either a shot or a pass across the box and was off balance preventing him from keeping it out. As I have said in past posts, I am a fan of reading body shape of strikers to determine the direction of the shot, however I must clarify. When the striker has very little angle, he has very little chance of finishing at the back-post therefor it is in the keeper’s best interest to protect the near-post. Lloris is quick enough to react at the near post if he stays solid and sets his feet. Although it was a good finish from the Argentine, perhaps it was a minor error from Lloris that did not impact the outcome of the game in the end.
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