Here’s what happened on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League, in case you missed it…
READ ALL ABOUT IT
• Tottenham 1, Manchester City 0: Game story || Game stats
• Liverpool 2, FC Porto 0: Game story || Game stats
THE MAIN STORY
A special night for Spurs: Sitting precariously in fourth place in the Premier League table and 18 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, Tottenham appeared to have their work cut out on Tuesday night when the Citizens paid a visit to Spurs’ new stadium for the first of three contests between the two sides in a 12-day span.
Manchester City entered the first leg of this quarterfinal series in sparkling form. Pep Guardiola’s men had won all but one of their previous 23 contests in all competitions, and had conceded more than one goal in a game just three times in 2019. This looked as though it was going to be a long evening for the hosts.
Instead, Spurs put forth one of their best and most inspired performances of the campaign, pulling out a crucial win over the quadruple chasers. Mauricio Pochettino’s team was well organized in defence, thwarting and frustrating City’s high-potent attack at almost every turn. Prior to Hugo Lloris’s stop on a free kick deep into second-half injury time, the visitors hadn’t recorded a single shot on target since the 37th minute.
Tottenham’s commitment and character on the night must also be applauded. Lloris came up huge when he stopped Sergio Aguero from 12 yards out in the first half after Manchester City was controversially awarded a penalty following a VAR review. When Harry Kane was forced out of the game in second half due to an ankle injury, City no doubt could smell blood in the water. But the London club overcame the loss of their talismanic striker, and Son Heung-min stepped up to score the winner on a brilliant individual effort.
BEST GOAL
Liverpool doubled its lead over FC Porto in the 26th minute on a play that was started and then finished by Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian cut in from the left flank and fed the ball to Jordan Henderson, who then delivered a great through ball to Trent Alexander-Arnold. The young Englishman whipped the ball across the box to the far post to Firmino who tapped it into an empty net.
BEST MOMENT
When the Champions League anthem played prior to kickoff before Tottenham vs. Manchester City, the first European game to be played at Spurs’ spectacular new stadium.
BEST TWEET
BURNING QUESTION
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THE GAME WITHIN THE GAME
Naby Keita was a key figure for Liverpool on Tuesday at both ends of the pitch. Not only did he open the scoring but the Guinean international was a defensive dynamo in central midfield for the Reds, doing his best to break up attacks by Porto.
No player on the pitch won more tackles (6) or completed more take-ons (2) than Naby Keita in the first half vs. Porto
He won twice as many tackles as any other player. pic.twitter.com/yyxAgaDQ0C
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) April 9, 2019
SIX PACK OF STATS
• Tuesday marked the first-ever European contest between Tottenham and Manchester City in 157 meetings between the clubs in all competitions.
• Liverpool is unbeaten in seven European matches against FC Porto (with four wins).
• Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has saved all three of the penalties he has faced in all competitions in 2019, stopping efforts against Leicester City, Arsenal and Manchester City.
• Jurgen Klopp has 400 wins as a manager in all club competitions: 111 with Liverpool, 180 with Borussia Dortmund and 109 with Mainz.
• Son Heung-Min has now scored as many goals (18) in 40 games in all competitions this season for Tottenham as he managed in 53 appearances during the entire 2017-18 campaign.
• Roberto Firmino has been directly involved in 12 goals in his 11 Champions League games at Anfield for Liverpool, scoring seven times and tallying five assists.
Stats courtesy of Opta.
THREE STARS
1) Roberto Firmino, Liverpool: The Brazilian scored one goal and set up another to guide the Reds to victory at Anfield.
2) Son Heung-min, Tottenham: The South Korea international displayed great skill in scoring the winner versus Man City.
3) Naby Keita, Liverpool: Scored the Reds’ opening goal and won a number of tackles in all-around effort against Porto.
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