Son\nHeung-min’s late goal gave Tottenham a crucial and well-deserved advantage over\nManchester City in a thunderous Champions League quarter-final first leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\na searing atmosphere in their vast new stadium, Spurs overcame the loss of\nHarry Kane to a serious looking ankle injury – sustained when he challenged\nFabian Delph in the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nthey made the breakthrough with 12 minutes left as Son twisted and turned on\nthe byeline before shooting low past Ederson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs\nhad survived the concession of an early penalty, awarded on a pitchside video\nreview by the referee after Danny Rose was judged to have handled Raheem\nSterling’s shot. Sergio Aguero stepped up, but keeper Hugo Lloris saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manchester\nCity were never at their best and must now overturn this narrow deficit at\nEtihad Stadium on 17 April to keep alive their hopes of a historic quadruple of\nChampions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs\nwin with sheer force of will<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nwas the sort of night Spurs’ new stadium was built for – and how Mauricio\nPochettino’s side delivered in front of their exultant supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs\nrode out Aguero’s penalty miss and another Kane injury setback to knock an\noff-colour Manchester City out of their usual stride. No-one can dispute that\nthis was a first-leg advantage the home team totally merited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nmuch-maligned Lloris, understandably criticised after his late error at\nLiverpool recently, was a hero here but Spurs had them all over the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry\nWinks gave a performance of real maturity in midfield and when Kane went off it\nwas the talismanic figure of Son who again showed his liking for his new\nsurroundings with the winner – after scoring the first Premier League goal here\nagainst Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nSouth Korean is the ideal modern attacker: tireless, unselfish but with an eye\nfor goal and a willingness to take responsibility, which he did here as he led\nthe charge after Kane’s departure, culminating in the turn back from the\nbyeline and shot underneath Ederson to give Spurs a precious lead to protect at\nEtihad Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs\nlook certain to have to overcome the absence of Kane in the second leg but a\nlead – and of great significance, a clean sheet – will see them travel north\nwith justified optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can\nMan City keep quadruple on track?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pep\nGuardiola cut an agitated figure throughout as Manchester City spluttered and\nfailed to find anything near top gear. City and their manager can have no\ncomplaints about this outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guardiola’s\nteam selection raised plenty of eyebrows and the selection of Delph at\nleft-back left City with a huge flaw. He struggled to cope with Son all night,\nswitching off to great cost as the South Korean chased a ball to the byeline\nunchallenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riyad\nMahrez looks poor value at \u00a360m and the introductions of Leroy Sane and Kevin\nde Bruyne smacked of too little too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can\nCity turn this tie around and keep their quadruple bid on track? Yes they can –\nand while it is of little consolation, it is at least better than the 3-0\ndeficit that proved too much to overhaul in another all-English Champions League\nquarter-final last season against Liverpool last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However,\nthey must show more urgency and more of their trademark attacking brilliance to\nsucceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs\nwill almost certainly be missing Kane but they also have a clean sheet so City\nmust attack while also being aware they must not slip up at the back and risk\nfalling foul of the away goals rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nstage is set for a dramatic second leg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Son Heung-min’s late goal gave Tottenham a crucial and well-deserved advantage over Manchester City in a thunderous Champions League quarter-final first leg. In a searing atmosphere in their vast new stadium, Spurs overcame the loss of Harry Kane to a serious looking ankle injury – sustained when he challenged Fabian Delph in the second half. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9112,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9110\/revisions\/9112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}