Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Manchester City was an ordeal of a rollercoaster ride for the majority of Spurs fans, players, and staff.
Spurs had seen their 1-0 advantage from the first leg wiped out in minutes, as Raheem Sterling found the back of the net early on at the Etihad.
Heung Min Son proceeded to smash home two goals of his own, putting Spurs 3-1 up on aggregate with two away goals.
However, Man City would then fight back, eventually going 4-2 up on the night, and 4-3 up on aggregate.
It looked as if Spurs had blown a comfortable lead in the Champions League until Fernando Llorente diverted a third goal home via his hip.
Tottenham now just had to hang on and not concede in order to progress on away goals, but with just minutes to go, Eriksen accidentally played in Aguero, who rolled it across for Sterling to finish.
Spurs hearts were broken, and it was at this moment that Tottenham fan Gerard Sharpe lost connection as his flight took off from Miami to Epping.
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Knowing there were only seconds left at the Etihad, Sharpe was resigned to thinking his side had blown it again for the duration of the eight-hour flight.
He said (Guardian): “I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat. I watched a couple of films but my mind wasn’t really on them. I knew there were two more minutes of injury time still to go and I’m thinking: ‘Can they get another goal?’ But really you say to yourself: ‘Sod this, they’ve blown it again.’ I was really upset.
“My wife is saying: ‘What’s the big deal? It’s only a game of football.’ She’s not into football, at all. She’s a football widow, who has to put up with my bad moods at weekends and now this. I’m coming back from a fantastic holiday on a lovely plane but it was a nightmare. I’m thinking: ‘Typical Spurs. They’ve let me down. Two minutes to go and they couldn’t hang on.’
“The first thing I looked at was the Sky Sports website and it says Spurs are through to the semi-finals. What?! I thought Spurs had to have scored again and it wasn’t until I looked through it all and saw about the VAR that I realised. I couldn’t believe it.
“I’d like to think our name is on the cup but Spurs fans are very pessimistic. Until the final whistle goes and we’re lifting that cup, I won’t believe it. Liverpool are favourites but something is also saying to me that there could be divine intervention going on.
“I’ve now got a four-day trip, and we’re going all over France and Spain to see this game. So somehow it keeps pushing me. But I’m thinking: ‘Keep going, we’re going to get there and we’re going to win it.’”
Spurs Web Opinion:
I remember turning the TV off and storming upstairs the second the Sterling goal went in. For about 30 seconds, I thought Spurs had blown it again, before I heard a faint ‘VAR’ mention as my parents turned the tele back on. Those 30 seconds were among the worst in my life, and I can only imagine the mood Gerard was in for those eight long hours.
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