by Towards the end of last season, Pep Guardiola was asked what he could have left to achieve in the game if his Manchester City team completed the Treble. “Scoring a goal against Spurs,” he replied. He was joking, right?
City duly beat Internazionale in the Champions League final to touch immortality but here, finally, it was the crowning glory. Not only did City score their first goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the sixth time of asking, they also got their first result.
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Before that, there were five wins out of five; a strange and difficult sequence to explain. But they cut through the hood to energize their defense in the FA Cup, with Nathan Aké heading in the much-anticipated goal towards the end.
Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was at fault. He was pressured by Rúben Dias on a corner from Kevin De Bruyne, who was brought on by Guardiola as a substitute in the 65th minute. Vicario wanted a foul but it wasn’t there and, when he hit weakly, Aké headed home.
De Bruyne was the previous City player to score a goal at Spurs’ actual stadium in September 2015; which takes up the time the London club spent at Wembley while their home was being rebuilt.
De Bruyne looked set to break the deadlock as City pressed hard in the closing stages. Bernardo Silva and another substitute, Jérémy Doku, shot too close to Vicario and, at times, De Bruyne had great chances. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was robbed by Phil Foden when Spurs tried and failed to play up from behind and when the ball was worked to De Bruyne, all eyes followed his shot towards the bottom corner. He continued to go over the bar and, at that point, it felt like City would never score. Aké had other ideas.
City dominated the game and finished with 18 shots to Spurs’ one. It would be hugely significant if Tottenham were to force a replay and the harsh truth for Ange Postecoglou was that his team went away with a whimper. He wanted to see them step up their game. There is no better measure of progress than seeing if it is possible against the best. No, Spurs’ best efforts were only serving to keep them clinging and it was certainly immoral to hear Guardiola’s judgment afterwards.
He can feel again the desire of his team to win every game. They have done so five times in a row since returning victorious from the FIFA Club World Cup. “We are there,” said Guardiola.
It was City first. They had arrived at 6.50pm, much later than they would have liked, their bus was caught in the terrible traffic around these parts. But they were straight out of the blocks, subjecting Spurs to something awful in the first 20 minutes.
They would have taken an early lead had it not been for Oscar Bobb’s offside after Vicario made a half-save from Phil Foden and watched the ball drift towards the line. Bobb touched in from half a yard but, after a long delay, the VAR upheld the marginal decision. Would the ball have crossed the line without Bobb’s intervention? It looked as if it had been done.
The strange thing about the first half was that they struggled to create anything clear for all of City’s soldiers, their comfort in possession and their beautiful patterns. Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic’s shots were blocked and a window into Guardiola’s mood was provided when Josko Gvardiol hit a cross badly. Guardiola took to his heels as he fired him. It was a ball playing for City.
The home crowd went wild when Micky van de Ven came across to make a thunderous challenge on Foden. But it wasn’t as much as they did when Pedro Porro threw himself into an important block to keep out Bobb’s shot in the 42nd minute. Rodri and Kovacic’s efforts in the construction were blocked.
City continued to do their thing on the ball after the restart, Foden’s velvety touch as easy to watch. And Spurs continued to do their part without him. Van de Ven drew more cheers when he eventually converted Julián Álvarez’s effort.
The opening lines were notable, in part, for the names they did not contain. Postecoglou kept out James Maddison, only releasing him as a 73rd-minute substitute in his first action since being sidelined with an ankle injury for almost 12 weeks and De Bruyne also kicked his heel.
Could Spurs offer anything in the final third? A pass from Timo Werner was sent through by Brennan Johnson and he was able to touch the ball just as City Cup goalkeeper Stefan Ortega came to block it. Johnson’s effort was deemed on target; it went down as his team’s only shot.
Postecoglou had confidently predicted goals and entertainment beforehand. Surely it was not going to end in a stalemate? Aké made sure he wouldn’t.
