ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0
LONDON • Revenge might not be exactly the right word, given that the European dimension of Manchester City's quadruple attempt was probably the one that mattered most to them.
But Pep Guardiola will have been satisfied with the reaction his players showed after the draining events of last Wednesday evening, which saw them exit the Champions League, with Spurs prevailing on away goals despite a 4-3 defeat.
The City manager had confessed he had no idea how his side may be affected by such a cruel late setback, with Raheem Sterling thinking he had scored the winner only to see his goal chalked off by the video assistant referee.
However, they gave one of their more solid performances of the season to take three points from a gutsy and resolute Spurs team to move back to the top of the Premier League table yesterday.
Guardiola admitted his relief that "the title is still in our hands as we could have lost the Premier League today".
He told BBC Sport: "It was a real tough game after our mental defeat on Wednesday. The last two days have been really tough for us."
This was not City at their fluent, most incisive best, but Liverpool and Manchester United will still have been impressed after their 10th league win in a row - the best run by any team this season.
As their nearest challengers for the title, Jurgen Klopp's Reds are well aware of the difficulty of grinding out results against stubborn opponents at this stage of the season.
And United, who host City next on Wednesday, will find it challenging to defend for 90 minutes as well as Spurs did after Phil Foden's fifth-minute opener.
Realistically, the third meeting of these sides within a fortnight was never going to live up to the breathless excitement of midweek, but both teams deserve credit for producing professional performances after their exertions in Europe.
The only drawback from City's point of view was the sight of Kevin de Bruyne limping off before the break, though they have prospered without the influential Belgium midfielder for much of the term and appear equipped to do so again.
Bernardo Silva is one of the less celebrated names on the six-man shortlist released yesterday for the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award, the others being teammates Sterling and Sergio Aguero, the Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk, and Chelsea's Eden Hazard.
The Portugal midfielder, however, was instrumental in creating the only goal, cutting in from the right to pick out Aguero at the far post, who nodded the ball back across the goal, where Foden's reward for following up assiduously was his maiden strike in the league.
The early breakthrough raised hopes that the game might be an end-to-end goal-fest to resemble the epic match three days earlier.
Yet the rest of the game was relatively muted, with the home side comfortably in control for the most part, without finding their cutting edge.
Spurs were reduced to sending long balls in the direction of South Korean forward Son Heung-min.
Guardiola, calling the Reds "one of the best teams I've seen in my whole life", added: "We are fighting with the best Liverpool ever.
"If we win (the title), we'll be so happy. Even if we don't do it, we've been on a remarkable run. Every day with this club and these players. It doesn't matter what happens next. We'll fight until the end - we'll see how far we get."
THE GUARDIAN
Football: Pep Guardiola sorry to have derailed Manuel Pellegrini's final days at Man City MANCHESTER (AFP) - Pep Guardiola has apologised if the early announcement of his arrival at Manchester City in 2016 destabilised his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini's attempt to win the quadruple.
Guardiola sorry to have derailed Pellegrini's final days at City
adtest.supersport.com/football/premier-league/news/190227/Guardiola_sorry_to_have_derailed_Pellegrinis_final_days_at_City
Pep Guardiola has apologised if the early announcement of his arrival at Manchester City in 2016 destabilised his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini's attempt to win the quadruple. Pellegrini will bring his West Ham side to Manchester on Wednesday, making his first visit to the Etihad for a match since City sacked him to make space for Guardiola.
Guardiola sorry to have derailed Pellegrini's final days at City
and Kadir Yahaya joining Geylang United [now Geylang International], Malek Awab and Rafi Ali signing for Tampines Rovers. Giving credit to Singapore coach Bernd Stange, his side are exactly where they want to be in the ongoing Asian Cup qualifiers.
David Beckham targets former Manchester United captain
The Netherlands will not be lulled into a false sense of security when they face a struggling, new-look Germany in their Euro 2020 qualifier in Amsterdam on Sunday, captain Virgil van Dijk has said.
Dutch not favourites against struggling Germany - Van Dijk
Report Ad
Did you check eBay? Fill Your Cart With Color today!
The FIFA/Coca World Ranking - Find out where your team are in the latest standings.
FIFA rankings - Belgium overtake France at No 1 Gibraltar on rise
tv5.espn.com/football/belgium/story/3678879/fifa-rankings-belgium-overtake-france-at-no-1-gibraltar-on-rise
Brazil, one of only two non-European sides in the top 10 along with Uruguay, remain third, followed by Croatia and England. Gibraltar, who only became FIFA members in 2016, rose eight places to their best ranking of 190th thanks to their Nations League wins in Armenia and at home Liechtenstein.
Every major nation's highest and lowest FIFA ranking since
The Champions League final of 2005 will forever be remembered as one of the all-time great games in the history of football, but especially in Liverpool as the Reds managed to win their fifth
Football: Salah, Origi strike to give Liverpool Champions
worldsportstale.com/soccer/football-salah-origi-strike-to-give-liverpool-champions-league-triumph/
MADRID (REUTERS) - An early Mohamed Salah penalty and a late strike by Divock Origi gave Liverpool a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday's (June 1) all-English Champions League final as their coach Juergen Klopp finally got his hands on Europe's biggest prize.
Sorry, but Tottenham's miracle was better than Liverpool's
Four gray wolves (Canis lupus) have been airdropped into Michigan for a very important assignment. The quartet, originally from Canada, has been helicoptered into Isle Royale national park to
How to Own a Pet Wolf: 14 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
Jurgen Klopp laughed off suggestions he is an unlucky manager as he looks to halt an unfortunate run of ending up on the losing side in his last six finals as a coach when he leads Liverpool into
SUN 06 Jan 2019 Spanish La Liga. rivals and current leaders Barcelona in March. Santiago Solari's side can move to level on points with third-place Sevilla with victory over 15th-place
La Liga: Pressure Piles On Coach Zinedine Zidane As Real
LIVERPOOL, England (REUTERS) - Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has confirmed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a serious knee injury and could return to training as
Oxlade-Chamberlain could return to training in February
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri charged by FA for behaviour during Burnley game charged with misconduct by the Football Association following his touchline dismissal in the 2-2 draw against
Football: Chelsea's Sarri charged with misconduct over
Play Kahoot! - Enter game PIN here
Everton ease past Burnley to keep Europa League dream alive Marco Silva's side moved into eighth place, one point behind seventh-place Wolverhampton Wanderers, who host Fulham on Saturday.
Everton ease past Burnley to keep Europa League dream alive
Go from questioning to understanding Brainly is the knowledge-sharing community where 150 million students and experts put their heads together to crack their toughest homework questions.
วิทยาลัยนานาชาติ มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏเชียงใหม่
FIFA says 48-team World Cup 'feasible'; decision in June (1:52) FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants Qatar to have a co-host and will present an expansion proposal at June's congress in Paris.
Qatar to not decide on 48-team World Cup until it's seen FIFA
0 comments:
Post a Comment