Man City’s quadruple chase ends with a victory in arguably the best game of UCL history
The rise of Raheem Sterling is partly due to Pep Guardiola at Man City
The Etihad stadium witnessed one the best football games contested in recent history with both teams giving every thing they had. It was an attacking game of football with 5 goals scored in the first 21 minutes. Man City went on to win the game 4-3 but Tottenham qualified on away goal’s rule. VAR broke the home fans’ heart by ruling out an injury time goal from Raheem Sterling for offside. Aguero who assisted Sterling was caught offside and the goal was rightly ruled out.
Man City started the game like a team wanting to put the game to bed as quickly as possible. Kevin De Bruyne brilliantly passed the ball out wide to Sterling who cut inside, went past Trippier as if he was not there and curled the ball into the goal. City were ahead 1-0 and level in the tie. Laporte who has been Man City’s best defender this season made an error by gifting the ball to Son who shot it within the range of Ederson. The Brazilian goalkeeper couldn’t get down in time and the ball hit the back of the net.
Son inflicted further damage on Man City when Laporte’s horrible touch gave the possession away to Lucas Moura. The Brazilian passed the ball to Eriksen who then found Son. The South Korean curled the ball to score a beautiful goal and give Spurs the lead. Man City suddenly had to score 3 more goals to progress with the North London side having grabbed two away goals. Most sides would have given up but City didn’t which made the game open and interesting. Bernardo Silva immediately equalized for City after his shot got deflected by Rose and went in.
In 11 minutes, the Etihad crowd witnessed four goals and ten minutes later, Raheem Sterling scored one more to give Man City a legitimate chance to progress. Man City missed De Bruyne in the first leg and his selection for the second leg changed the complexion of the game. The Belgian launched a sublime cross into the box that beat everyone to reach Raheem Sterling. The English attacker buried it past Lloris to give Man City a 3-2 lead. Both teams went into the half-time break with City needing one more goal to stop Spurs from qualifying on away goals rule.
Sergio Aguero got the much needed goal in the second half to put City ahead for the first time in the tie. Kevin De Bruyne perfectly picked Aguero in the box and the Argentine’s powerful shot beat Lloris and City were ahead 4-2. The Etihad was buzzing and the atmosphere was electric. In the 73rd minute, Llorente stunned City from a corner by rising high to score from his hip. Replays seemed to suggest the ball brushed past Llorente’s hand before hitting his hip. However, the referee awarded the goal after checking the replays himself.
Man City pushed hard to find the goal that would let them advance and for a moment, it seemed like it had come in injury time when Eriksen’s pass was knicked by Bernardo Silva towards Aguero. The Argentine stiker passed the ball to Sterling who did the rest and scored the winner that made the home crowd in the stadium go nuts but VAR was called and the goal was disallowed for offside in the build-up. Aguero was in an offside position when the ball got deflected of Bernardo Silva towards him. It was cruel, agonising and heart-breaking for Man City’s players, the coaching staff and the fans.
Despite winning the game and outplaying the opposition, Man City’s defensive errors at the start of the game cost them the tie. Man City bow out of the Champions League as Tottenham progress on away goal’s rule. Easily, this is one of the best games ever played in Champions League history but the tie ended anti-climatic for the City faithful.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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