Son gives Spurs edge over City in Champions League quarter-final

Tottenham ignored Harry Kane ’ s latest injury woes as Son Heung – Min sealed a priceless 1 – 0 win over Manchester City after Hugo Lloris saved Sergio Aguero ’ s penalty in a dramatic Champions League quarter – final first leg on Tuesday .

Mauricio Pochettino ’ s side earned a slender advantage thanks to Son’ s clinical strike late in the second half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium .

Son scored the first goal in Tottenham ’ s posh new abode against Crystal Palace last week and now the South Korea forward has bagged their maiden European strike in the arena.

While Son soaked up the plaudits , much -maligned keeper Lloris also enjoyed a sweet moment of redemption in a troubled campaign when he kept out Aguero ’ s first -half spot – kick .

Tottenham ’ s victory was an unexpected twist to an enthralling encounter , especially after Kane injured his left ankle in a tackle on Fabian Delph early in the second half .
But City had only themselves to blame for failing to earn an advantage for the second leg in Manchester on April 17 .

Having won the League Cup, reached the FA Cup final and kept the destiny of the Premier League title in their own hands , this was City’ s next hurdle in the race for an unprecedented quadruple .

But City boss Pep Guardiola is adamant it is “ almost impossible ” to achieve a clean -sweep of all four major trophies .
He might be right on the evidence of a City display that lacked the cutting edge and intensity required to keep Tottenham at bay .
City’ s first defeat since a January 29 setback at Newcastle is not fatal to their European ambitions, but they will have to improve on this tired effort to stop Tottenham reaching their first European semi – final since 1984 .
This was City’ s 52 nd competitive match of a draining season and Guardiola made four changes from the team that laboured to a 1 – 0 win over Brighton in the FA Cup semi -final on Saturday.

Fernandinho was selected instead of Kevin De Bruyne , the defensive – minded Brazilian lining up in midfield in a move that showed Guardiola was willing to sacrifice a little of his attacking philosophy in deference to Tottenham ’ s quality .

Tottenham have been riding a wave of excitement in their new £ 1 billion , 62 , 062-capacity stadium , while City wilted in the red – hot atmosphere at Anfield in the Champions League quarter – finals against Liverpool last season .

If Guardiola was concerned about subduing Tottenham and their boisterous crowd , his side were handed a golden opportunity in the 12 th minute .

Raheem Sterling cut in from the left and left three Tottenham defenders in his wake before unleashing a shot that struck Danny Rose ’ s raised arm as the Tottenham left -back slid in to block.

There were no penalty appeals from City, but after consulting VAR , Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers awarded the spot – kick .
However , Lloris plunged to his left to keep out Aguero ’ s penalty with a superb save .

– Son rises –
Kane was embroiled in a physical battle with City defence’ s but his attempt to fight fire with fire proved his downfall in the 55 th minute .

Crunching into a late challenge on Delph on the touchline , Kane appeared to twist his ankle before immediately signalling he would have to come off .

The sight of the England captain limping badly down the tunnel could have been fatal for Tottenham .

Kane , who has scored 24 times for Tottenham this season , is no stranger to ankle problems .

Yet Tottenham thrived in his absence for seven matches with left ankle ligament damage earlier this season .

And once again they rose to the challenge to snatch the lead in the 78 th minute .
When Son beat the City offside trap , it appeared his touch was too heavy to take advantage .

But he alertly kept the ball in play , taking advantage of Delph’ s pause to protest the decision by slamming a low drive under Ederson from close range .

Guardiola once infuriated Pochettino by calling Tottenham ‘ the Harry Kane team ’ — now Son has provided the perfect riposte to that jibe .
AFP .

Download Edujandon.com News App QR-Code

Edujandon.com - 24/7 News Upda

Developer: Edujandon Enterprises

Price: Free