To cruelly quote Martin Tyler, “I swear you’ll never see anything like this again”. In astonishing scenes at the Etihad this week, a Quadruple-chasing Manchester City were dumped out of the Champions League at the hands of Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The blue side of Manchester erupted with euphoria as the excellent Raheem Sterling seemingly bagged his hattrick in the dying minutes of the game, in echoes of 2012, sending fans into rapture, before the result - and passage through to the Semi-Finals of the competition for only the second time in their history - was snatched away courtesy of the correct-decision-making VAR.
Though City won the second-leg 4-3, the away goals rule plus the strike from Son Heung-min the week before, allowed Spurs’ progression, muting the celebrations of the majority of the crowd and bringing the dancing City manager Pep Guardiola down to his knees in despair.
We break down one of the best ties in Champions League history by numbers.
0 yellow cards shown to Manchester City at home;
1 missed penalty: after Danny Rose was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box from Raheem Sterling’s shot with a rogue arm, Sergio Agüero, Manchester City’s all-time top goalscorer stepped up to the plate. The subsequent save from Hugo Lloris could arguably be seen as the most important moment in the Quarter-Finals;
2 injuries suffered by Spurs across the two legs; talisman Harry Kane in north London after lunging into a bad challenge on Fabian Delph, whilst Mousa Sissoko pulled his groin in Manchester.
3 vital uses of VAR across the two-legs; has the operation ever been used as effectively?
7 goals in the thriller at the Etihad; A brace each for both Raheem Sterling and Son Heung-min, and goals for Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero, and the overall winner from Fernando Llorente.
11 minutes. The time the spot-kick was awarded at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and also the time the score was tied at 2-2 in the return leg.
54 shots combined across the two games.
1962 the year the last time Spurs had reached the semifinals of the European Cup.
3010 jubilant Spurs fans in attendance in east Manchester.
763,650,000 in pound sterling spent by Pep Guardiola since he last won the Champions League in 2011, £525,690,000 of it at Manchester City and the overall figure not including the undisclosed fees that haven’t been revealed at Bayern Munich.
