Manchester City takes revenge on Spurs as Phil Foden heads them up | Soccer

Revenge may not be the right word, as the European dimension of the Manchester City quadruple attempt was probably the most important for them, but Pep Guardiola will have been pleased with his reaction. players after the grueling events of Wednesday night. the league of champions.

The city manager had confided that he had no idea of ​​the consequences of such a cruel setback on his team, although he had offered one of his best performances of the season to take three points to a resolute and resolute Spurs team to get back to the top. the table of the Premier League.

It was not City at their best incisive level, they did not put their opponents to pieces nor accumulated goals as they are able to do, but Liverpool and Manchester United will have been impressed. Liverpool is well aware of the difficulty of getting results against stubborn opponents at this stage of the season, while United, who will play against City, could be encouraged by a relatively unobtrusive home performance but will struggle to defend for 90 minutes. as well as the Spurs did it.

Realistically, the third meeting of these teams in less than a fortnight will never live up to the breathtaking excitement of mid-week, but both teams deserve to be commended for having produces professional performances after their efforts in Europe. The only drawback from City's point of view was that Kevin De Bruyne had not finished the match, wringing his knee to get shot and get banged before half-time, though City flourished without the Belgian influence for a good part of the season and seemed equipped to do it again.

Bernardo Silva is one of the lesser-known names on the list of successful candidates for the AFP season, although he has offered Ben Davies a game he will not soon forget. Time and time again, City's right-winger turned around and tormented the side defender who was trying to score him. Bernardo did not have a chance to see a penalty call dismissed in the middle of the first period when Jan Vertonghen got his leg taken. Previously, the Portuguese international played a decisive role in creating the first goal by separating from the right after only five minutes to allow Sergio Aguero to be in the last place. The striker was not able to score but was conscious of nodding to the goal, where Phil Foden's reward for his diligent follow-up was a first division goal.

Such an early breakthrough suggested that the match could be an end-to-end match that would resemble the mid-week match, although the rest of the first half would be a late-season fixture It was odd to think that the game had been sold for weeks and that just a few days ago, City's attempts to win another title were considered decisive.

Manchester City (86 points)

April 24 Man Utd (a)
April 28 Burnley (a)
May 4 Leicester (h)
May 12 Brighton (a)

Liverpool (85 points)

April 21th Cardiff (a)
April 26 Huddersfield (h)
May 5 Newcastle (a)
May 12 Wolves (h)

The locals controlled most of the time, without finding the sharpness that had led them, and while the Spurs were reduced to sending long balls towards Son Heung-min in the absence of Harry Kane, with Christian Eriksen providing Passes and His excelling at making the most of very little, visitors have always seemed able to find an equalizer.

His son showed a fast pace for Aymeric Laporte to receive the goal of Eriksen's first call, but the defender recovered in time to block his shot. Eriksen had brought the first rescue of Ederson's game, but it was His who created the Spurs' best chance before the interval with a superb turn in the middle of the field, followed by a passes through City's defense to the surface, where the goalkeeper's vigilance prevented him from leaving his line.

Agüero sees a shot blocked by Toby Aldeweireld early in the second period and at the other end, Spurs would have a penalty if VAR was there to intercept Kyle Walker's hand diverting Dele Alli's ball into the box before Guardiola decides to play more. Proactive and sent on Leroy Sané, prompting Raheem Sterling to play a central role in trying to inject more speed into City attacks.

The two men nearly scored a goal in the space of a few minutes when Sane's center found Sterling in the center of the field, but what appeared to be a direct hit was concealed behind Paulo Gazzaniga's back leg, replacing the injured Hugo Lloris. Ederson had to make a clean save for Lucas Moura shortly after the game began to live up to his original bill.

There were no more goals, even though the four-minute break, with Vertonghen and Sterling both booked after a fight and the Spurs sending big balloons into the urban area, were also nervous and frenetic. that all Wednesday night.

As the local fans screamed after the whistle, the match ended almost comically. Sané is taken with a terrible anxiety on the ground. Guardiola nearly put himself on the ground worried about his involvement and Fernandinho finally tries to turn the ball out of the stadium. bid to relieve the pressure. It was not what made City famous, but they are back on the table and this time it was the Spurs who had to leave empty-handed.