Late Ake strike sends Manchester City past Spurs and into FA Cup fifth round
STRIKE IT AKE: Manchester City's Nathan Ake celebrates scoring the winner. Photo credit: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.
IT was 538 minutes in the making and highly controversial when the ball went in, but Manchester City finally broke their duck, and Tottenham hearts, with a late and controversial goal from Nathan Ake to send Pep Guardiola's side through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Before kickoff, City had famously not scored in all five of their previous games at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and it looked like another blank was on the cards when Kevin De Bruye took a corner with two minutes remaining.
But Ruben Dias engaged in a wrestling match with Guglielmo Vicario, the Tottenham goalkeeper failed to hold the ball, and Ake stabbed it over the line to settle the tie.
Tottenham protested furiously, claiming a foul on Vicario, who had kept City at bay with some excellent saves, but referee Paul Tierney was unmoved and the goal was enough to send City through.
That they were the better side overall was not in doubt, but with both sets of forwards being eclipsed by the respective defences, it looked like a replay was looming.
At the final whistle it was City's fans who were celebrating wildly, while Spurs were left to rue what might have been, after their first goalless performance under Ange Postecoglou.
It was hardly a cup classic, but City will not care as they are in the hat for the next round.
The first-half was fast and furious with plenty of attractive, free-flowing football but very little goalmouth action.
Perhaps it was not surprising given Tottenham were missing Heung-Min Son, so often the scourge of City, while Erling Haaland's continued absence meant Guardiola's men did not have the same goal threat.
Oscar Bobb, Haaland's compatriot, thought he had broken their duck inside five minutes, drilling the ball home from close range after Guglielemo Vicario parried a shot from Phil Foden. An offside flag dampened City celebrations, and a lengthy VAR check confirmed the decision.
City made all the early running, keeping the ball from Ange Postecoglou's possession-based side for long periods with their incisive passing and clever movement.
But they struggled to find a cutting edge. Julian Alvarez had a long shot saved comfortably by Vicario, and Josko Gvardiol fired wastefully high and wide from a good position.
It took Tottenham some time to get into the game, and they started to create half-chances on the break. Twice Brennan Johnson broke through on the right wing, but his crosses towards Richarlison were cut out by Stefan Ortega each time.
The German keeper, standing in for Ederson, showed that he is just as comfortable on the ball as the Brazilian and not afraid to leave his area, at one point racing out to head clear from Richarlison.
Timo Werner raced away down the left but his low cross was intercepted, and City broke quickly, with Mateo Kovacic showing neat footwork to set up a shot for Bobb that was brilliantly blocked by Pedro Porro. That pretty much summed up the first half – decent approach play denied by dogged defending.
The same pattern continued after the break. Bobb's curling cross found Alvarez unmarked at the far post, and the Argentinian looked set to score, but Micky Van de Ven appeared from nowhere with a marvellous sliding challenge to block his shot.
Werner then sent Johnson in on goal, but Ortega was out quickly to dive at his feet and smother the ball. Tottenham had two half-hearted penalty appeals waved away before Guardiola decided to send on Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.
Soon afterwards, Postecoglou made a similar substitution by sending on James Maddison who had been out of action since the start of November. The roar that went up from home supporters when the England midfielder ran on was an indication of how much he has been missed.
Spurs were starting to tire, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg slipped twice in as many minutes, allowing Bernardo Silva a low shot that was well saved by Vicario, and then moments later giving De Bruyne a golden chance that he somehow shot wide from 15 yards.
Doku beat Tottenham's offside trap to run in goal but Vicario did well to get down and smother the Belgian's shot. Silva volleyed high over the bar, De Bruyne had a shot deflected away and from the resulting corner, Ake scored the all-important goal.
It prompted protests from Tottenham, celebrations from City, as Guardiola's men go marching on.
Vicario 8; Porro 7, Romero 7, Van de Ven 7, Udogie 7; Hojbjerg 6 (Scarlett 89), Bentancur 7 (Maddison 73); Johnson 6 (Skipp 73), Kulusevski 6, Werner 5; Richarlison 5.
Ortega 7; Walker 7, Dias 7, Ake 7, Gvardiol 6; Kovacic 7, Rodrigo 7, Bobb 6 (Doku 65); Silva 7, Alvarez 6 (De Bruyne 65), Foden 7.
Paul Tierney 6/10
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