by James Maddison was jogging up and down the touchline with increasing purpose, eyes darting more often towards the technical area, for at least five minutes when the call finally came. A game that rarely rose above a low hum was 72 minutes old and something, someone was needed. The Tottenham support barely knew him for three months, and just 11 competitive games, when he injured his ankle in November. The dinner that welcomed him back to the field had a lot to say about the rapid romance that each party had last summer.
The stage might have been set for a swift resumption of the love affair but Manchester City had already called for a king to come back who changes games as easily as lives. Kevin De Bruyne hasn’t started a game in five-and-a-half months and wasn’t considered ready to feature here, instead making the third since his hamstring troubles ended. Although Maddison was forced to meet Ange Postecoglou’s line of sight, Pep Guardiola calmly unloaded the most powerful weapon he could deploy. It was De Bruyne who, for all their interweaving patterns and half-chances to shoot, provided the attacking spark that City lacked for more than an hour and ultimately it was his influence who chose the green.
Related: Nathan Aké’s late winner ends Manchester City’s empty run at Spurs
This always felt like a night defined by players outside the starting XI. Son Heung-min headed Tottenham’s list of regulars sidelined by international competitions or injured; Erling Haaland’s continued absence from City’s ranks needs to be elaborated upon. The loss of those critical components, with their urgency, physicality and class, was always going to dilute the fare available here. The presence of Maddison and De Bruyne on their respective benches, at the very least, promised to enrich it.
When De Bruyne, given the best chance of the game after Phil Foden had picked out Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, shot wide in the 82nd minute it was thought it might take longer to get off the ground at 32 .De Bruyne had turned things on his head. his previous trip, in Newcastle, but perhaps the old rhythm was not well tuned.
But he had already added to City’s pace, challenging Micky van de Ven on the shoulder near the right and sprinting beyond the home midfield. There was even time to help Cristian Romero out with a cramp spot but the coup de grace came through a corner, dropped teasingly into the six yard box, for a fumble Guglielmo Vicario was able to convert Nathan Aké. It was City’s first goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: De Bruyne had another little moment of history for his collection, making them that much bigger.
“He made an exceptional corner at the right point,” Guardiola said of De Bruyne. “I want to protect him. You always know he’s going to create in these types of games at the end, when he’s a little bit more open.”
De Bruyne showed how it’s done. With the score still goalless, Maddison, dropping deep, slipped a neat pass to Destiny Udogie who missed the opener.
At that point there was a sense that these two creative forces could spend the final stages matching each other beat for blow, feathered slide rule pass for undulating flows through the third. But it was Oliver Skipp, who came on for Maddison, who volleyed home with a daring turn and burst inside his own half shortly before Spurs’ fate was sealed. Maddison, a character who relishes meeting the moment, had to settle for that most stellar of football catchphrases: minutes in the legs.
It will benefit them, and so will Spurs. It was probably their brightest display under Postecoglou, the best of their minimal attacking threat when Brennan Johnson headed Timo Werner’s pass into Stefan Ortega’s thug. It was counted as a set, which made them the most obscure gaps. There was little horror from further back and perhaps none of the midfield drive of Senegal’s Pape Sarr offered. Perhaps it was asking too much for Maddison to bring the intensity and craft that Tottenham needed in a cameo appearance.
There was the belief that if Spurs found a way past City here, the FA Cup could open up for them. Arsenal have already fallen, Chelsea or Villa will go out, and Liverpool may find heavier fish to fry. At their best, Postecoglou’s side should be manna from Cup-tie heaven. This time the lineup was weak, as their manager admitted, too passive and rarely seemed to seize any measure of control.
Of course, Maddison has a winner’s medal with Leicester. It’s a little surprising to remember that De Bruyne has only won two. But it is Belgium who will be ready to increase their score after proving that he, and no one else, was the man this horror was crying out for.
