Earlier than Metropolis’s present run of 15 successive Champions League campaigns, reaching Europe’s high desk was an obsession.
With Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal seemingly immovable within the Premier League’s high 4 in the course of the second half of the 2000s, just one place was up for grabs annually.
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Throughout 2009/10 and 2010/11, that got here right down to a battle between Metropolis and Tottenham Hotspur.
What adopted was a mini-rivalry between two golf equipment in search of to take their seat amongst the continent’s elite.
And as is commonly its wont, the fixture laptop did its greatest to maximise the drama.
Spurs would go to the Etihad Stadium within the last weeks of each seasons, with the Champions League and the whole lot that guarantees for the long run nonetheless on the road.
Even so, few might have predicted what was to return.
The winner of every tie would earn the Champions League slot that time period, with just one aim in every sport.
That’s not but essentially the most putting side although, with Peter Crouch scoring the winner in each video games – first for Spurs and second into his personal internet to Metropolis’s benefit.
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Much more bizarrely, Crouch was successfully stood in the very same spot for each decisive touches.
Whereas this fixture has thrown up many classics down the years throughout all competitions, it’s maybe the juxtaposed feelings following these two clashes that typify the positive margins between glory and wonderful failure greater than some other.
Forward of this weekend’s assembly and Thomas Frank’s first Etihad go to as Spurs boss, we have a look again at two seasons when our dwelling ties with Spurs outlined the marketing campaign.
2009/10
Roberto Mancini, a serial winner as a participant and supervisor, had arrived in December 2009 so as to add a steely mentality to a gifted however draw-prone squad.
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A 3-0 defeat at White Hart Lane in December had been his predecessor Mark Hughes’ penultimate sport and, at that time, few would have anticipated Metropolis to have been concerned within the Champions League race that time period.
11 wins and 4 attracts from our subsequent 19 video games left us fifth with 66 factors and two video games remaining.
That was one level behind Harry Redknapp’s free-flowing Spurs facet, who had the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale catching the attention.
A League Cup semi-final earlier within the marketing campaign had given Metropolis the style of the larger events that had eluded us for generations, however in the end the defeat to Manchester United left Metropolis followers praying for
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Forward of the ultimate weekend, Metropolis and Spurs would meet in a midweek rearranged fixture on the Etihad that felt like a novel play-off.
For the Blues, preparation had been lower than excellent, with first-choice goalkeeper Shay Given compelled off by means of damage within the 0-0 draw at Arsenal lower than two weeks prior.
Mancini acted shortly to herald emergency backup, with Sunderland’s Marton Fulop parachuted in for 3 video games to assist us over the road.
Fulop was a extremely skilled worldwide in his personal proper, however to return from the bench at a league rival into the warmth of a dramatic head-to-head battle would take some mettle.
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On the night time, Metropolis lined up within the attacking 4-4-2 formation that had been Mancini’s go-to since his arrival.
Whereas Spurs had been many individuals’s favourites earlier than kick-off, the sport performed out virtually as evenly because the season had gone to that time.
The edges couldn’t be break up on possession or makes an attempt at aim, with Metropolis having two extra corners than our guests.
Nonetheless, the decisive, heartbreaking second got here lower than 10 minutes from the top as Crouch reacted quickest to a Fulop parry from a deflected Younes Kaboul cross.
With the Hungarian goalkeeper on the ground and Vincent Kompany simply too far-off to affect it, Crouch nodded the ball excessive into the aim and wheeled away to have fun with the pocket of Spurs supporters.
Nonetheless very early into the venture following our 2008 takeover, it felt like a crushing blow.
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Mancini’s first full season on the Etihad would concerned Europa League soccer, moderately than the promised land of the Champions League.
Spurs celebrated lengthy into the night time on the Etihad, with well-known scenes involving substitute David Bentley tipping a bucket of icy water over Redknapp’s head in the course of the supervisor’s post-match interview.
12 months on, Metropolis could be out for revenge.
2010/11
Sarcastically, the brand new season began with Metropolis on the street at Spurs and a key choice for Mancini.
In aim, would he go for skilled Premier League favorite Shay Given or shining prospect Joe Hart after a stellar yr on mortgage at Birmingham Metropolis?
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Hart obtained the nod and it was an impressed choice, with the younger England hopeful placing in one of many performances of a lifetime to maintain the scores 0-0 in north London.
The place all-out assault had been our default possibility within the earlier season, defence was the spine of our Champions League and FA Cup challenges that time period.
We’d concede simply 33 targets within the Premier League, with the final of them coming 4 video games earlier than the top of the season.
The place the decisive conflict between Metropolis and Spurs in 2010/11 was the second-to-last, this time Redknapp’s facet could be in Manchester three video games out from the top.
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And Metropolis had been within the driving seat now.
In reality, Spurs got here understanding a victory was essential to maintain their Champions League hopes alive once more.
This time round, we surrendered extra possession and pictures to the facet regardless of their 4-5-1 setup.
However with Hart in aim, Metropolis had one of many Premier League’s excellent performers.
The aim additionally arrived lots earlier on this yr, but it surely will need to have been a horrific second for Crouch – who will need to have needed the bottom the place he’d made such a mark 370 days previous to swallow him up.
The stress got here because the second half wore on and Spurs pushed more durable and more durable for the equaliser however to no avail.
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That solely made the outburst of reduction come the ultimate whistle all of the extra sensational across the Etihad Stadium as we celebrated reaching Europe’s most important stage.
It was backed up at Wembley just a few days later with the FA Cup last victory over Stoke Metropolis that sealed a really transformative week in our historical past.
Regardless of the outpouring of emotion at that time, few might have predicted what would observe.
Metropolis have since certified for each single version of the Champions League and lifted an astonishing 24 main honours.
As Pep Guardiola prepares himself for the problem of a modern-day Spurs who’re themselves celebrating being within the Champions League this season, it shouldn’t be forgotten the function this mini-rivalry performed on our journey to the place we at the moment are.