If you ever wondered what the anti-93:20 moment was like, this was it... Have you ever seen such a dramaticdefeat for any side, in such remarkable circumstances?
Manchester thành phố thought they had done it. They thought Raheem Sterling had scored a hat-trick deep, deep into stoppage time. The players were celebrating in the corner, Pep Guardiola was jumping on anybody he could get close to.
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There were a full 30 seconds of the wildest celebrations, on par with that dramatic Sergio Aguero winner against Queens Park Rangers in 2012.
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This was the equal of that.
And then it wasn"t.
VAR intervened and before anybody knew anything about it, the moment was snatched away. Delirium turned lớn despair. Utter despair.
What a way to lớn go out of any competition, what a way for the Quadruple dream lớn be snatched away!
For all the ulmrave.coms scored on the night, this was about the one that wasn"t. City go out on away ulmrave.coms, 4-4, after an incredible night that would have lived long in the memory even without that most unlikely of endings.
Where to start with analysing it?
Ultimately, City"s defeat over two legs will be traced back to lớn the first in London a week ago, when Guardiola played a cautious trò chơi in the hope of keeping things tight và winning the tie at the Etihad Stadium.
They did indeed win here in Manchester, và what a win it was, but thanks to lớn that narrow 1-0 defeat a week ago it was somehow not enough.
And thanks to lớn that moment of utter heartbreak right at the death, it feels not just like narrow defeat but the end of the world.
How could anybody split these two sides over the two legs? If anything, city were better. Sure, they were not themselves in the first leg but they never phối out to be.
The first-leg analysis has been done lớn death now but had Sergio Aguero scored that penalty how this would have all been so different but after the events of Wednesday night that seems like a complete irrelevance.
The start lớn the second leg was crazy, with Sterling kicking things off with a perfectly measured finish. There was nothing perfectly measured about the rest of the half, with Aymeric Laporte contributing khổng lồ two quick-fire Heung-min Son ulmrave.coms that were excellently taken.
Ilkay Gundogan said a week ago that City"s reaction to Aguero"s missed penalty effectively cost them the game, but there was nothing that could be faulted in their reaction lớn the two Son ulmrave.coms here.
Bernardo Silva quickly levelled thanks to lớn a deflection and then Sterling arrived at the back post to lớn tap in a perfect Kevin De Bruyne cross.
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It was 3-2 at half-time & City only needed one more khổng lồ go through. They probably planned lớn be 1-0 up at the break and 2-0 up by the end and, after all the madness subsided, that was effectively still the case.
They had the upper hand, too, as Moussa Sissoko"s injury meant Fernando Llorente had to come on, & Spurs had suddenly lost their threat on the break. Llorente, of course, does have his strengths, but he rarely had the chance to use them as thành phố kept up their relentless attacking.
And then they got the ulmrave.com that would have sent them through, Ilkay Gundogan picking out De Bruyne, De Bruyne picking out Aguero, và Aguero picking out the back of the net.
City were finally in a position that would have sent them through and then suddenly they weren"t.
A succession of corners brought Llorente into play. Laporte was marking him but somehow the ball was allowed to drop khổng lồ waist level, & via some kind of combination of elbow và hip Llorent scored at the near post.
Referee Cuneyt Cakir took an age lớn consult VAR but he couldn"t be certain there was a clear and obvious error, so stuck with the original decision to lớn award the ulmrave.com.
Still, a team lượt thích City, in this kind of mood, were perfectly capable of scoring in the final 10 minutes. They had some chances in regulation time, too, but Gundogan flicked over at the near post with their best opening.
And then the moment came. Aguero, who had been a terrier all night, got the ball, turned & played it forwards. It found Sterling, who kept his head, cut inside và fired in with his left foot.
Pandemonium. Everywhere.
But nobody in the stadium had spotted that Aguero– what seemed an age before the ball hit the back of the net– was offside. But while thành phố fans embraced each other lượt thích it was 2012 all over again, somebody in the VAR truck did.
And that was that. Both decisions– the Spurs ulmrave.com và City"s non-ulmrave.com – were correct; there is no disputing that. But what a cruel way for any side to go out!
The question for thành phố now is how they react. They have their biggest two matches of the season still khổng lồ come and, amazingly, it is Spurs who will be here yet again on Saturday.
On the plus side for City, you would have to say they have five or six players who did not start here that could come in và make a telling contribution. Tottenham, who gave everything, vì chưng not have that depth.
But it will take some effort for thành phố to rouse themselves again & attack relentlessly like they did here. All of that effort for no reward. Never before has a victory felt more like a defeat.
