Tottenham 1-0 Man City: His son punishes Sergio Aguero after an expensive penalty

It will be one of those Champions League nights where every call from Pep Guardiola will be questioned. Although many of his pre-game selections have been forced, he will now have to find answers for Manchester City to reach the Champions League semi-finals. -finales.

That's because Tottenham, backed by a fierce crowd in his new stadium, struggled long enough and strong enough to clinch a tight 1-0 win thanks to Heung-Min Son's late strike.

Guardiola is never far away from questions about his approach in big games. Of course, when his unorthodox formations succeed, one quickly forgets that he has scrambled the cards first.

And it would be foolish to be too critical of Catalan right now, given what he's done with this club since the start of last season, not to mention that it would have been different if Sergio Aguero's 39, was converted quickly. sentence.

In case the efforts of Argentina would be saved by Hugo Lloris, and on such nice margins, big games, big draws are decided.

City were not their usual attacks, but they never decided to become one. Guardiola respected the Spurs and it may also be scrutinized, but it was clear that he did not want his team to be too open, which was his loss in the European competitions of Bayern Munich and City. And when he settled down and he was defeated, his mistakes were recalled to him very quickly.

While Bernardo Silva was suffering from a slight muscle injury, Guardiola turned to Riyad Mahrez, who has hardly fired the world since his departure from Leicester last summer.

Guardiola decided not to move Aymeric Laporte in the left-back, where he had mixed success. He chose Fabian Delph, who was suspected of playing his last game of the season. club after some rash mistakes during his recent outings.

Mahrez was clearly sent with the mandate to play thoroughly in depth, which Leroy Sane would probably not have had the confidence to do in the same direction.

Ilkay Gundogan started in the place of Kevin De Bruyne, who also fought fitness problems, and his deep role alongside Fernandinho also ensured that it would be a close match.

And if Aguero had scored his penalty, City might have won. The striker was lucky with some recent attempts, especially when he hit the post at Swansea but the rebound was cashed by the goalkeeper and in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley when the villain Kepa jumped by above his goal.

But even with both, he was aiming very low, as he usually does. Here, for whatever reason, he went higher, in a "good size for a guardian" area. Lloris swept the ball and the local fans roared. Aguero has now missed more penalties than anyone in the Champions League since its debut in the 2008 -09 competition.

It was a close match after that, full of aerial duels and rugged attacks. One of these could prove crucial, in fact. Harry Kane, who had fought with the central defenders of City as well as everyone, attacked late and strong Delph and eventually rolled his ankle. It could well keep him out of the second leg and it will definitely be a big boost for City.

But the fact is that the Spurs scored after Kane's departure and they managed well without him this season. Nevertheless, City will need all possible boosters. A scoreless draw would have been rather precarious, as a draw would have allowed the Spurs to pbad, but a 1-0 deficit leaves no room for error.

This deficit is courtesy of Son, who ran behind Delph and, keeping the ball in play, immediately took over on the converted left rear. The South Korean made a comeback move inside, pretended to fool Delph, then used the extra space to shoot a low shot that Ederson, who had previously injured in the hip during a heavy fall, let pbad.

A team is as strong as its weaker members and, although City is hardly a winner in the competition, Delph in the left-back is probably as "weak" as City. He did not make a heinous mistake and, in all fairness, all the other left-handers in City are more than able to get caught in the space behind them, but he does not go out of his way. is not covered with glory either.

Moments like this, and of course the penalty, are the points that Guardiola keeps coming back to when he discusses the difference between success and failure in this competition.

City had another 10 minutes to score an away goal, but Guardiola was unusually late in bringing Leroy Sane and, in particular, Kevin De Bruyne.

David Silva was not as accurate on the ball as he was at his best and De Bruyne seemed to be an obvious substitute at halftime, but Sane and him were only introduced when he was at his best. in the 89th minute. It was as if Guardiola had suddenly understood that they were on his bench.

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In the end, they could not have an eloquent impact, their contributions in the last third being as odd as those of their teammates. The Spurs continued to fight brilliantly and clung to what could be a valuable benefit.

City are in no way out of this, and you would always support them to win at Etihad Stadium, no matter who the opponent is.

Guardiola has a week to find the answers.