LONDON • After surviving an early Sergio Aguero VAR penalty and top scorer Harry Kane's injury to beat Manchester City 1-0, Mauricio Pochettino challenged "spirited" Tottenham to finish the job in their Champions League quarter-final.
South Korea forward Son Heung-min took his chance well in front of 17,500 fans in the so-called Tottenham Wall to earn Spurs a slender first-leg edge 11 minutes from time in their new home, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, on Tuesday.
His much-maligned captain Hugo Lloris enjoyed a moment of redemption in a troubled campaign when he saved Aguero's kick after Danny Rose was adjudged to have handled Raheem Sterling's shot.
Pochettino was delighted with the display against the Premier League champions, but insisted the tie was still delicately poised.
"We showed great quality. We were all excited and motivated to play this type of game," he said.
"The energy was good, fantastic, the penalty save gave us a big lift. There are still 90 minutes to play and it's Man City. But, with the spirit we play, anything is possible."
The win was an unexpected twist after Kane, who has 24 goals this season, injured his left ankle in a tackle on Fabian Delph just before the hour. He is expected to have tests on the injury today, but Pochettino fears his star striker could miss the rest of the season.
City's first loss since a Jan 29 setback at Newcastle may not be fatal, but they will have to improve at home in the second leg to stop Spurs from reaching their first European semi-final since 1984.
Pep Guardiola said: "Nobody said it would be easy. We have to show what we can do the next game.
"It was a good performance, but that's the Champions League. We lost, we have the second game and we will see what happens."
There was a sense of deja vu as he opted for the same duo, Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan, with disastrous consequences in the 3-0 beating at Liverpool in the first leg of the last-eight clash last season.
Guardiola lost Bernardo Silva to a muscle injury during training on Monday and had to defend his "conservative" line-up:
 • Riyad Mahrez over Leroy Sane on the right.
 • Gundogan over Kevin de Bruyne, who was returning to form and fitness in an injury-hit season.
Said Guardiola: "I decided to play with two holding midfielders to be a bit more solid.
"Last season was much worse (against Liverpool). Except for a few chances conceded in set-pieces and some counter-attacks, we controlled the game (today).
"We played to score but couldn't. Spurs are a team that press a lot, but they couldn't do that especially in the second half when we arrived many times in the final third."
9Â
Tottenham have progressed to the next round on each of the last nine occasions they have won the first leg of a European knockout match (excluding qualifiers).3Â
Penalties Hugo Lloris has faced and saved in all competitions this year against Leicester, Arsenal and now Manchester City.
Aguero's penalty miss on 13 minutes was a major momentum swing for City, the League Cup winners and FA Cup finalists who are in the hunt for four trophies.
There were no penalty appeals from City when Rose's arm was slightly raised for balance as the left-back slid in to block. But, after consulting the video assistant referee, Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers awarded the kick.
As Lloris plunged to his left for a superb save, it fuelled more debate over Uefa's tweaked handball rule. Its decree that effectively any contact between arm and ball in the box meant a penalty, with a "distance" caveat, has stirred criticism even before the law was applied to widespread derision here.
Pochettino said: "Maybe technically it was a penalty because it was handball, but we do not know the protocol. There are a lot of question marks. I think it's going to change the spirit of the game and I'm very worried about how it's going to work next season."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, THE TIMES, LONDON
Leicester welcome Rodgers with win, Newcastle end Burnley run were inspired by the performance of record signing Miguel Almiron to end Burnley's eight-game unbeaten Premier League run with a 2
Football: Leicester welcome Rodgers with win, Newcastle end
Apr 28, 2019 · Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk rewarded for near-perfect season with PFA Player of the Year award Save Van Dijk is only the fourth defender to claim the award in the last 40 years Credit: PA
Virgil van Dijk and Vivianne Miedema celebrate 'highest
Messi claims record fifth Golden Shoe award - The Kashmir Monitor
Allegri leaves behind 'solid' Juventus ROME • Massimiliano Allegri believes that he is leaving behind a squad strong enough to win the Champions League next season, after it was confirmed on Friday that the Juventus coach will depart the club at the end of this season.
Allegri To Leave Juventus At The End Of The Season
Harry Kane could be out for rest of the season, says Mauricio Pochettino Kane appeared to roll his left ankle in a coming-together with City's Fabian Delph and was replaced by Lucas Moura in the
Kane could be out for the season, says Pochettino - myKhel
Klopp not falling for title talk trap, Football News & Top
The Portland Trail Blazers are back in the series after grinding out a 97-90 win in Game 2 at Pepsi Center, their first in Denver since 2016. CJ McCollum bounced back with a strong performance
Blazers even series on bow tie Wednesday, pay tribute to
Dec 18, 2018 · The coach had long coveted a chance to work at the club, but he struggled to connect with United's players, notably Paul Pogba. On Tuesday, Mourinho was let go.
Man Utd news: Jose Mourinho criticises club and says Paul
DUBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - FIFA says it has been in regular contact with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) over the Bahraini refugee soccer player arrested in Thailand in November over a
UPDATE 1-Soccer-FIFA says in regular contact with AFC over
Football: Liverpool fans in Singapore and around the world in
The Gunners snared Lacazette from Lyon in the summer of 2017 for a then club-record fee of £46.5 million. It has now been revealed that Emery was a rival suitor before Paris Saint Germain turned their attention to Kylian Mbappe; a player that Arsene Wenger had also attempted to sign.
`Angry´ Napoli fired up to overturn Arsenal deficit
Radojko "Raddy" Avramovic, former Singapore head coach, gave Baihakki his Lions debut "We brought in young lads in that squad… he was in that generation and we worked with them to prepare them for the national team. Some of them had earlier opportunities to play, some later but most of that generation played nearly ten years (or more).
'Time for a Singaporean to be The Lions' head coach'
Defiant Solari calls for patience, Football News & Top
0 comments:
Post a Comment