AP, Manchester :
More than two minutes into stoppage time, Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling slid across the field and puffed his chest to the crowd, roaring in elation. Tottenham players collapsed to the turf, some flat on their backs, forlorn and heartbroken.
From the brink of Champions League elimination, Manchester City was celebrating its passage to the semifinals.
As City manager Pep Guardiola was leaping on the touchline, Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakir was receiving updates in his ear from the video assistant referee checking replays. The stadium soon became hushed until the big screen flashed: “No goal. VAR. Offside.”
Guardiola threw his head in his hands, but there was nothing to argue about.
When Christian Eriksen’s misplaced back-pass deflected off Bernardo Silva into the path of Sergio Agüero, the City striker was offside before setting up Sterling in the penalty area.
“It’s cruel,” Guardiola said.
There would be no eighth goal on this breathtaking night of epic drama. Tottenham advanced on away goals following Wednesday’s 4-3 loss that left the teams tied 4-4 on aggregate.
City’s quadruple dreams were extinguished. Guardiola, a Champions League-winning coach with Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, failed to reach the semifinals for the sixth straight time, his third with City after three misses with Bayern Munich. Instead, Tottenham reached to its first European Cup semifinal in 57 years and will play Ajax. Liverpool meets Barcelona following a 6-1 aggregate win over Porto, giving England multiple clubs in the semifinals for the first time since Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in 2009.
Tottenham advanced thanks to Fernando Llorente’s hip, which nudged the ball into the net in the 73rd minute for a goal that survived a VAR review for possible handball. It was the last goal of a night that will be long remembered by clubs that lived in the shadows of larger rivals in their own cities.
“That is why we love football, we feel the passion,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.” We enjoy watching football, anything can happen.
“Today we showed our great character, great personality. To score three goals against Manchester City is not easy.” Not when top-scorer Harry Kane was out through injury. Not when the midfield options were so depleted that an injury to Moussa Sissoko before halftime before Pochettino to bring on out-of-favor center forward Llorente. And Tottenham will play the first leg against Ajax without Son Heung-min – Kane’s understudy who scored the valuable first-leg goal last week. Son scored Tottenham’s first two goals at Etihad Stadium, then picked up a booking for a foul on Kevin De Bruyne that earned him a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
The South Korean showed just how influential he is for Tottenham in a start unlike anything seen before in the Champions League.
Four goals in the opening 11 minutes. The fifth in the 21st minute, after five shots on target.
“The first 10 minutes of this game and the last five was fairytale stuff,” Eriksen said.
