Tottenham's Davinson Sanchez and Fernando Llorente celebrate after a match against Manchester City, at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, Britain, on April 17, 2019.ANDREW YATES/Reuters
Fernando Llorente sent Tottenham into its first European Cup semi-final in 57 years and ended Manchester City’s quadruple hopes by scoring the decider in a breathtaking Champions League game that produced seven goals and saw an apparent injury-time winner for City ruled out after a video review.
City won the second leg 4-3 at home but Tottenham advanced 4-4 on aggregate on Wednesday thanks to the away-goals rule to set up a meeting with Ajax.
Llorente, a back-up striker who lives in the shadow of the injured Harry Kane, nudged the ball into the net in the 73rd minute with his hip – a goal that was only given after a video assistant referee decision.
Video review worked in Tottenham’s favour again in stoppage time, when Raheem Sterling looked to have secured City’s progress. But as the home fans celebrated and the devastated Spurs players slumped to the turf, the referee determined that Sergio Aguero was offside before crossing to Sterling.
It was a dramatic finish to a game that saw three lead changes and four goals scored in the opening 11 minutes.
Liverpool beats Porto to return to Champions League semis
Liverpool returned to the semi-finals of the Champions League after comfortably beating Porto 4-1 on Wednesday, with attacking trio Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino grabbing a goal each.
Virgil van Dijk also scored for Liverpool, which advanced 6-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg 2-0 at home.
Porto started well and showed signs it might be able to reverse the first-leg deficit, but Liverpool took control after Mané scored a goal in the 26th minute that was confirmed by video review after being initially disallowed on an offside call.
Salah added to the lead in the 65th and Eder Militao scored for Porto in the 69th, but Firmino ended any doubts in the 77th and Van Dijk closed the scoring in the 84th.
Liverpool, which lost in the final last season, will now face Barcelona, which eliminated Manchester United 4-0 on aggregate on Tuesday.
Manchester United women secure promotion to Super League
Manchester United secured promotion to the women’s Super League with three games to spare and in its maiden season on Wednesday after beating Aston Villa 5-0.
United, which was granted a licence to play in the second tier last year, leads the standings on 46 points to Tottenham Ladies’ 39, and is sure to finish at least second in the Championship.
A Millie Turner header, an Alex Greenwood penalty and goals from Jessica Sigsworth put United 3-0 up at halftime and Ella Toone and Charlie Devlin rounded off the scoring at Leigh Sports Village.
Villa goalkeeper Sian Rogers was sent off for a second bookable offence with the score at 4-0.
Casey Stoney’s side was favoured to go up as the only fully professional team in the Championship, but promotion is subject to meeting FA Women’s Super League licence criteria and will be confirmed next month.
It has 15 wins in 17 league games and can take the title on Saturday if it wins at 10th-placed Crystal Palace.
With files from Reuters