Son’s goal leaves Pep Guardiola firmly in Barcelona’s shadow

Pep Guardiola’s struggles in Europe continued with a lackluster from his Manchester City side as they went down 1-0 in their Champions League quarter final first leg match against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.

Manchester City have been impeccable on the domestic all domestic fronts, having already won the Carabao Cup in February, they are also in the FA Cup final and are favorites for the League but in Europe, despite facing an English team, did not live up to the standards they have set.

Things, however, could have been different had Argentine striker scored his VAR awarded penalty 10 minutes into the first half, Lloris doing well to produce a fine save and keep Spurs from going behind early on as well as conceding an away goal.

Harry Kane would then go off injured ten minutes after the restart but in all honestly, Mauricio Pochettino’s side grew stronger without their talismanic striker. South Korean Forward Heung Min Son was tasked with leading the line in Kane’s absence, a task he performed with world-class precision and movement and he was rewarded with just 12 minutes of play left when he cut in from the left and fired a low shot past the helpless Ederson to life the new White Hart Lane volume levels.

https://youtu.be/r5Vl207tLjU

Pep Guardiola’s side will have have a chance win the tie at home in the second leg next week but doubts still remain on his tactics in Europe especially due to the fact that he also failed to win the Champions League while managing Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola is the best manager of his generation but until he wins the European cup with another club other than his all conquering Barcelona side of 2009 and 2011, the doubters will always feel they have a strong case against him. His time to right his wrongs is running out!