Heung-min proves he's Spurs' favorite Son with winner against City

The excitement created by the milestone achievement of getting all four Premier League teams through the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 for the first time in a decade quickly subsided when talk of the draw for the quarterfinals began in earnest. Unless UEFA were to fiddle with it – the correct way this time – the odds of an all-British semifinal were so long that it was all but guaranteed that there would be a "Premier League derby" at this stage of the tournament.

The selecting of Manchester City to face Tottenham Hotspur at home was immediately met with online cries of unfairness and bad luck; Liverpool got the Primeira Liga's FC Porto to ease their way into the semis and Manchester United, (at that time) going mad for it on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Spirit of '99 nostalgia rush, got the glamour tie with a beatable Barcelona. City and Spurs was just another weekend fixture temporally displaced – and they'd be doing it three in a month because the standard Premier League fixture takes place a mere two days after the return leg on April 18.

But even talk of the game taking place on the auspicious opening night of Tottenham's new stadium – unimaginatively nicknamed New White Hart Lane in order to save it from the significantly worse option of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium– a one-billion-pound extravagance built to herald a new era of pan-Western football, missed the real trick of the night.

Distracted by the ongoing finagling between PM Teresa May and Brussels, football fans worldwide seem to forget that the UK is still in Europe and this is a game in a European sporting competition, meaning that, on every possible level, Manchester City were playing a football match in Europe. Anything could happen.

Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane (white shirt) rivals with Manchester City's Fernandinho during the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Britain, April 9, 2019. Tottenham Hotspur won 1-0. /Xinhua Photo

It started like any other night with City bossing the game from the start, letting Spurs have their possession and making sure it amounted to nothing before stealing it back and starting their war of attrition.

It could have been not just any night, though. It could have been a particular night, the one where City thrashed Tottenham 4-1 at the Etihad on December 17, 2017, or when City beat them 1-0 at their home away from home in Wembley on October 29 last year.

It appeared to be going that way in the early stages as, in the 11th minute, "Broadway" Danny Rose looked like he handled Raheem Sterling's shot on goal in the box, and a quick video assistant referee (VAR) check confirmed it to be a penalty for City. The aforementioned 4-1 thrashing began with a goal from Gundogan in the 14th minute, Sergio Aguero's penalty was in the 12th. Too close for comfort.

Instead, Hugo Lloris proved that there truly is no fate but what we make for ourselves. Having looked on the outs for a while, he stepped up and blocked Aguero's (admittedly poor) penalty, instantly becoming the New White Hart Hero.

With the timeline changed, Spurs held their own against City for the rest of the half. Man Blue side held the bulk of the possession, only in a twist to the usual format, could do nothing with it. Kieran Trippier, in particular, played right back until he could play no more, came off, got seen by the physiotherapists on the sidelines, and then kept on playing.

Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane (white shirt) vies with Manchester City's Fernandinho during the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Britain, April 9, 2019. /Xinhua Photo

It was 0-0 at half time, and the tide was turning. Spurs refusal to quit was winding up the big boys of Manchester City; they desperately need to prove something in this competition, and the London side wasn't letting them do it. Ten minutes into the second half, their pettiness finally paid off as a clash between Fabian Delph and Harry Kane, who had been nibbled at all night, ended with the Spurs man going down and needing to be helped off the pitch.

Kane's health has been an issue for a long time, and England's shockingly good performance through the World Cup in Russia has only made that worse.

Kane out for Lucas Moura could have been the opening City needed and might have been had they not totally and needlessly lost their heads. Moura starting his game with a positive forward momentum and seeing that dashed instantly by a cynical, nasty tackle from Riyad Mahrez conveyed everything about the state of play.

If a rival league wanted to smear the Premier League by fabricating a video of British game's worst stereotypes – entitled players, cynical fouls, cowardly and pocketed referees – they couldn't have made anything anywhere near as negative as the next 20 minutes, which played out as a back-and-forth of schoolyard brattiness backed up by schoolyard quality in front of goal. Fernandinho is ostensibly a midfielder, but his style is essentially that of a grinder from the NHL. It's easy to imagine Sergio Ramos watching him from home, taking notes.

Tottenham Hotspur's Heung-Min Son scores the winning goal during the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Britain, April 9, 2019. /Xinhua Photo

And then a hero was born. In the 78th minute, saving the tie, the game and (at that moment) the sport itself, Son Heung-min won it for Spurs. A minute after being seriously knocked to the ground, he snuck in behind enemy lines, just kept it in play and sent it beyond Ederson Moraes to make it 1-0. It wasn't flashy, nor did it seem particularly intentional, but that didn't matter.

The roof was raised, and City was left arguing with the referee about Son being offside and spent the rest of the game being more focused on fouls than goals.

Without the benefit of it being an away goal, the 1-0 lead Spurs will take up north to Manchester in two weeks is only the slimmest of margins. It's impossible to forget the past meetings between the two teams at the Etihad Stadium (or elsewhere for that matter), and Pochettino and his men certainly won't.

Now, however, they have something to back up that knowledge: Hope.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)