Hip or arm? Offside or not? Ultimately, one fact trumps all. Score three goals against Manchester City away from home, and four over two legs, and you deserve anything that comes your way.
So all VAR controversy aside, this was Tottenham’s tie, Tottenham’s glory. They won the first game at home, despite losing their prolific striker Harry Kane, and while they did not win here, they did what was required to progress. They scored. And they scored again. And then, when they were losing 4-2 and heading out of the competition, they scored a third.
And, yes, it was dubious but some calls always will be. More importantly, it was a goal that came from a striker Mauricio Pochettino introduced after 41 minutes, Fernando Llorente, having lost a hard-running midfielder, Moussa Sissoko. And Tottenham were going through at the time that happened. So it was a bold call. And bold calls deserve to be vindicated.
Fernando Llorente scored the winner as Tottenham won an incredible quarter-final clash with Manchester City on Wednesday
Llorente bundled the ball home to take Spurs through to the semi-finals on away goals, despite a 4-3 defeat on the night
Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir checked to see if it was a Llorente handball but decided to award the goal to Tottenham
Spurs’ players celebrate wildly in front of their travelling supporters after another twist in an incredible quarter-final tie
Raheem Sterling thought he had won the game at the death for City, only for the goal to be rightly ruled out for offside
The Spurs players stand and lie dejected as the Etihad explodes with joy after Sterling’s injury-time goal on Wednesday
The ecstasy around the Etihad was short-lived after VAR ruled that the winning goal would not stand for Manchester City
The Tottenham squad celebrate jubilantly at the end of an incredible quarter-final that ended in dramatic fashion
Sterling opened the scoring for City with a fine curling effort after only three minutes on Wednesday night
The England international points to the heavens after beating Hugo Lloris and bringing City level in the quarter-final tie
Son brought Tottenham level on the night with an effort that beat Ederson and looped into the net at the Etihad
The strike put Tottenham back in the driving seat, and meant they had secured the first away goal of the quarter-final
Less than five minutes later, the South Korea international put Spurs ahead on the night with a brilliant curling effort
Tottenham captain Lloris celebrates in front of the away fans after Son’s brace put his side in control of the tie on Wednesday
So it is hard to begrudge Tottenham their progress. Fortune favours the brave or, to dare is to do, as they like to say in that part of north London. Pochettino dared. Good luck to him.
What must be said, also, is that this was a quite wonderful game, full of drama and the finest riposte to those dullards who would make this competition about history, and mediocre famous names. Neither Manchester City nor Tottenham have ever contested a final in the Champions League or European Cup. That they gave the competition one of the finest shows in living memory proves that history is bunk. In elite sport, what matters is now.
There were four minutes to go before half-time when Pochettino made one of the bravest calls of his managerial career. Sissoko limped off, Llorente came on. Looking at Tottenham’s bench, there was plenty of opportunity for caution. It was stuffed with defensive cover.
Instead, Pochettino gambled that he might need to score again in a crazy match. Sent on Llorente, shuffled his attacking forwards so that Dele Alli dropped deeper. He was proven right. By the time Llorente scored, City were winning, both game and tie. They had laid siege to Tottenham’s goal after half-time and Sergio Aguero had at last found a way through.
Kevin De Bruyne was the architect, powering through the centre, a lovely run, laying the ball to Aguero on the right. He lashed it past Hugo Lloris at the near post. No goalkeeper is content when beaten from that position, but the ball was as good as past him before he could react. Some of Aguero’s finishes are simply unstoppable.
To cap an incredible start to the game, Bernardo Silva scored a second for City, squeezing the ball in at the near post
Silva’s shot came off Rose’s leg and beat Lloris at the near post, leaving City needing two more goals to reach the last four
With only 21 minutes on the clock, Sterling netted his second and City’s third goal after a fine Kevin De Bruyne cross
The England international celebrates after latching on to the low ball and firing past the helpless Lloris in goal
After 15 minutes of the second half, Sergio Aguero put City ahead in the tie for the first time when he fired home
The Argentina striker is mobbed by his team-mates after firing home from inside the box following good work by De Bruyne
MATCH FACTS, RATINGS, DRAW AND MATCH ZONE
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6, Walker 6, Kompany 7, Laporte 4, Mendy 6 (Sane 83), De Bruyne 9.5, Gundogan 5.5, Silva 6 (Fernandinho 63, 6), Sterling 9, Aguero 8.5, Bernardo Silva 8
Subs not used: Muric, Stones, Mahrez, Otamendi, Gabriel Jesus
Manager: Pep Guardiola 7
Goals: Sterling 4, 21, Bernardo 11, Aguero 59
Tottenham (4-1-2-1-2): Lloris 5.5, Trippier 5, Alderweireld 6.5, Vertonghen 6, Rose 6 (Sanchez 90), Sissoko 7 (Llorente 41, 6.5), Wanyama 6, Alli 6, Eriksen 8, Lucas Moura 8, Son 8.5
Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Lamela, Foyth, Davies, Skipp
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 8
Goals: Son 7, 10, Llorente 72
Yellow cards: Son, Sissoko, Rose, Wanyama
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey) 5
*RATINGS BY JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD*
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL DRAW:
Barcelona vs Liverpool
Tottenham vs Ajax
Aguero looked to have put City through to the last four after an amazing run and pass by Kevin De Bruyne. See more statistics and heat maps from Sportsmail’s brilliant MATCH ZONE.
Llorente, not so much. The goal that sent Tottenham through to a last four meeting with Ajax a fluke, Llorente missing the header from a corner but somehow bundling the ball in with his body.
To add to the tension it looked as if it might have come off his arm. Referee Cuneyt Cakir went to a pitchside screen and returned pointing to the centre-spot and patting his hip. Was it off the hip? It certainly hit that part of Llorente’s body, but maybe arm first. It was hard to say. The call was not so obvious that the goal could be cancelled.
Unlike the offside in the build-up to Raheem Sterling’s goal in injury time. The one that City thought had sent them through, the one that inspired Pep Guardiola to go haring down the touchline in celebration, only to see the bad news from VAR-land and collapse to his knees, head in hands. The locals were aggrieved, but without VAR what would have happened? Llorente’s and Sterling’s goals would both have stood, and City would have progressed. Then we would have found out the winner was offside. So, in this case, VAR ensured justice was done. That doesn’t make it any easier for City; but it makes it fair.
So no Quadruple and no European title for Pep Guardiola. Amazingly, some will argue he has failed. Yet who would be a manager on nights like this?
No Champions League fixture had ever witnessed four goals inside 11 minutes, English football once again demonstrating it has never quite got to grips with the cat-and-mouse thing that is supposed to be the way to go in Europe.
If this was cat and mouse, it resembled one of those Tom and Jerry cartoons in which the pair chase each other through a series of immaculately furnished rooms, destroying every bit of priceless china in their wake. It was a ridiculous, preposterous, and really quite wonderful.
Manchester City supporters wave their flags before kick-off to turn the Etihad blue and white on Wednesday evening
Danny Rose looks to protect the ball for Spurs while under pressure from Bernardo during a whirlwhind first half at the Etihad
England international Dele Alli, who wore strapping around his knee, skips beyond the challenge of David Silva
It began in the fourth minute when De Bruyne played a sweet pass out to Sterling on the left and Kieran Trippier made the big mistake of steering his England team-mate inside. No defender should do that, given Sterling’s current form. Afforded sight of the target, these days, Sterling is one of the most lethal finishers in Europe and his shot curled out of the reach of Hugo Lloris, perfectly into the far corner.
The stadium erupted in relief and expectation. City were level on aggregate, with 86 minutes to play, at home. So what happened next must have come as a shock. Spurs equalised, then led. Left City to battle uphill for the remainder of the match. It was a stunning 180 seconds.
The leveller came on seven minutes. Good work from Alli sent the ball into City’s box but Aymeric Laporte’s unthinking clearance was as good as a pass to Son Heung-min. His record without Harry Kane is well known, so the precision of his finish was hardly a surprise. Even so, Ederson should have done better. The ball travelled low and City’s goalkeeper tried to keep it out with his feet. He is no David De Gea. He missed his kick, Tottenham led on aggregate.
The two managers Mauricio Pochettino (L) and Pep Guardiola (R) look to dish out instructions to their team on Wednesday
The visitors lost Moussa Sissoko to injury during the first half following a coming together with De Bruyne at the Etihad
Sterling leaps to avoid a challenge from Victor Wanyama, while Christian Eriksen and Kieran Trippier watch on
The next goal was the game-changer. Laporte’s mistake, high up the field, let Lucas Moura in on a rapid counter-attack. He fed Eriksen who moved the ball swiftly on to Son and, well, you can guess the rest. Another curling shot, another goal in the absence of Kane. It really is the most peculiar phenomenon. Look at Son’s scoring record when Kane is on the field. Maybe he’s allergic to him.
So now City needed three and within 10 minutes had two of them. Just a minute had elapsed since Tottenham’s last when Aguero laid the ball off to Bernardo Silva on the right. With team-mates calling for a return, he went it alone and his shot ricocheted off the legs of Danny Rose and past Lloris. Could he have done better? Probably.
City were then at their quick-thinking best for the third. A free-kick was awarded for a foul by Sissoko, and De Bruyne took it sharply, bringing Bernardo Silva in on the right. He drove with such aggression that Son fell over just trying to recover his position, by which time De Bruyne had appeared on the outside. He whipped a centre across the face of goal, and there was Sterling once again to convert at the far post.
Yet City were always vulnerable, once Tottenham started scoring. Repeat this scoreline when the teams meet here in the League on Saturday, and City will be jubilant. Last night they looked heartbroken.
They don’t care about Europe? Don’t believe a word of that.
Early in the second half City were awarded a free kick in a dangerous area but De Bruyne could not keep his effort down
Rose produced a stunning bit of last-ditch defending to keep Bernardo out after Lloris spilled a shot from Sterling
Minutes later, Lloris made a stunning one-handed save to deny De Bruyne and keep Spurs ahead in the quarter-final
Come the final whistle, the City players were left dejected as Spurs celebrated reaching their first Champions League semi
Guardiola confronts a devastated Ilkay Gundogan after the final whistle of an incredible 90 minutes at the Etihad