FOOTBALL Live

Tuesday December 18, 2007 Finished

0 - 2

Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur

Defoe 5’
Malbranque 82’

Live Commentary
Time:90'
- Manchester City
- Tottenham Hotspur
- - FULL TIME: Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham
- 90+1 Petrov has a chance to get a consolation goal for City with a free kick on the right ... but his shot drifts well wide and that will be it
- 90' The clock ticks over to 90 minutes and Spurs have one foot in the semi finals
- 89' Richards and Robinson collide in the Spurs box but Bennett has already blown for a Spurs free kick
- 87' Tainio's last ditch bicycle kick clearance denies Mpenza the attempt on goal
- 86' Kaboul is having a storming game as he clears another probing ball lofted into the box by Geovanni
- 84' It is a mark of the Spurs defence tonight that City have consistently been forced to try their luck from distance as Elano's latest shot from 25 yards again fails to trouble Robinson
- 82' GOAL SPURS! 0-2! Malbranque makes puts the game surely beyond doubt with less than 10 minutes remaining. Lennon finds O'Hara ahead of him on the right and the 21-year-old picks out Malbranque with an inch perfect pass. Malbranque does well despite the early attentions of Dunne and calmly slots the ball past Hart
- 79' Bianchi comes perriously close to equalising for City but Robinson reaches the ball with his fingertips before Kaboul clears off the rebound of the line. Close call for Spurs. Very close
- 77' Michael Ball replaces Javier Garrido
- 75' O'Hara almost makes himself the dream sub as he chases the ball into the area ... but Hart gets to there first, just
- 72' Jenas conceeds a free kick 25 yards out but Elano's shot is deflected and does not worry Robinson at all
- 71' The 21-year-old Jamie O'Hara comes on for Lennon
- 68' Eriksson brings on Mpenza for Vassell as City look to get some fresh legs on the pitch in their search for the equaliser
- 66' The yellow card is seeing a lot of action tonight as Bennett books Elano for a challenge on Lennon
- 65' Jenas continues to get himself into dangerous positions for Spurs but his attempt from outside the box drifts over the bar
- 61' City are not having the luck of the draw tonight as Petrov's left footed volley from the left wing whizzes well over the bar
- 58' City make their first substitution of the night as they desperately try to get back into the match with Geovanni coming on for Hamann
- 53' AWESOME SAVE FROM ROBBO! Robinson makes a fantastic reaction save to deny Vassell the equaliser from point blank range
- 51' The card-free period didn't last for long as Johnson is booked for diving inside the area after what looked like the softest of touches from Boateng
- 50' Richards looks a little desperate as he attempts a long-range shot from 35 yards that is well off target
- 48' Bennett has a chat with both Corluka and Boateng after the latter takes exception to the City man's challenge ... just for a change though Bennett doesn't brandish a card to either man
- 46' City get the match underway again ...
- 45+2 HALF-TIME: City 0-1 Spurs
- 45+1 Bianchi fires over from just inside the box on the left side and that will be City's last chance of the half
- 45' Card-happy Bennett again brandishes the yello this time to Dunne who is booked for a late challenge on Chimbonda
- 42' Bianchi's latest attempt to cut through the Spurs defence lacks legality as is caught offside!
- 39' City continue to press for the equaliser and Petrov finds Bianchi, who heads down to Johnson racing into the centre rather than going for goal ... but Johnson blazes over the bar from 12 yards out
- 37' Jenas becomes the latest Spurs player to go in Bennett's book as he is penalised for diving in the area and Johnson to be fair looked to have made minimal contact
- 35' Spurs are not without their danger men either as Berbatov cruises through the City defence ... he loses the ball though before being able to make anything off it
- 33' Another golden chance for City to equalise as Johnson curls the ball in from the left to the far post where Bianchi gets to within milimetres of turning the ball into the back of the net ... luckily for Spurs though he can't quite reach it
- 31' Elano deomstrates just why he is the man to watch everytime he pulls on a City shirt with a neat little one-two that he really should have converted into an equaliser - Elano receives the ball on the egde of the box from Garrido before the one-two with Petrove but he pulls the ball to the right across goal and it drifts wide of the right post much to the relief of the flailing Robinson!
- 30' City are beginning to make their presence felt in midfield a little more as Johnson finds Garrido, who in turn whips a cross into the box only to see it cleared by Kaboul
- 27' Somehow Spurs have managed to retain their control of this match in the 10 minutes since losing Zokora and Berbatov squanders a golden chance to double their lead - Lennon, again causing havoc down the right, picks out Berbatov, whose volley from 12 yards is just blocked by Corlukam, who comes racing across from the left
- 25' Malbranque is VERY lucky still to be on the field as he is shown a yellow card for a two footed challenge on Corluka. Malbranque's challenge was demonstrably worst than Zokora's as Corluka was left writhing on the ground but Bennett's inconsistency means he will be allowed to continue
- 22' Defoe is shaking his head in disbelief and must be wondering what he needs to do to retain his place in the Spurs starting line-up under Ramos as he is substituted for Tainio on his first start since October
- 21' Chimbonda is booked for unsporting behaviour in the fallout from Zokora's sending off
- 20' RED CARD ZOKORA! Spurs are down to 10 men as Zokora is given his marching orders by referee Steve Bennett. It wasn't the smartest of tackles by the Ivory Coast man as he lunges in two-footed at Elano but he did get the ball and failed entirely to make contact with the City midfield so a straight red seems pretty harsh
- 17' The ref ssems happy to disrupt play early in the match blowing for all manner of minor indiscretions
- 15' But again Spurs have the attack well covered and regain possession before happily frustrating their opponents in midfield
- 14' City are now beginning to string a few moves together as Micah Richards finds Hamman with his first pass of note
- 12' City, on the counter are looking dangerous for only the second time as Petrov attempts to find Bianchi in the box ... but again Zokora is there to do enough for City as Bianchi comes racing in after the pass
- 11' Lennon charges down the right wing before cutting the ball back to Malbranque racing in through the centre ... Malbranque has time but takes far too much failing to shoot or pick out the waiting Defoe and instead passing straight to Dunne!
- 9' Defoe is running riot in and amongst the City defence but is caught offside in his latest attempt and Dunne has the chance to clear from the free kick
- 7' Elano tries to fashion an attack for City, who so far have done little wrong but have nonetheless seen little of the ball, but he is brought down by Malbranque
- 5' GOAL SPURS! 0-1! Simple work from Spurs as Jenas splits the City defence with a ball for Lennon, who is cutting in from the right wing. Lennon finds Defoe on the penalty spot and it is a simple tap in for the striker, despite the attentions of Dunne. Hart stood no chance from such close quarters
- 4' It is end-to-end stuff early on as Lennon races down the right wing and forces Dunne into a clearance header on the penalty spot for City
- 2' Petrov is also causing early problems for Spurs on the counter as Lennon is caught offside on the right wing and forcing Zokora into a diving, clearance header in the area
- 1' Elano immediately makes his presence known trying to feed a pass through Bianchi but Zokora is there to cut out the danger
- 1' Spurs get the game underway at Eastlands ...
- 20:33 Spurs, however, have made just the one change from the team that beat Portsmouth on Saturday with Jermain Defoe replacing Darren Bent up front
- 20:31 Sven-Goran Eriksson has made three changes to the side that cruised to a 4-2 home win over Bolton on the weekend with Joe Hart coming in to replace Andreas Isaksson in goal and Elano and Javier Garrido in for Gelson Fernades and Michael Ball respectively
- 20:30 Coming up in 15 minutes high-flying Manchester City take on an inconsistent Tottenham Hotspur
- 20:29 Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of the Carling Cup quarter finals
Summary
- 82' GOAL SPURS! 0-2! Malbranque makes puts the game surely beyond doubt with less than 10 minutes remaining. Lennon finds O'Hara ahead of him on the right and the 21-year-old picks out Malbranque with an inch perfect pass. Malbranque does well despite the early attentions of Dunne and calmly slots the ball past Hart
- 79' Bianchi comes perriously close to equalising for City but Robinson reaches the ball with his fingertips before Kaboul clears off the rebound of the line. Close call for Spurs. Very close
- 31' Elano deomstrates just why he is the man to watch everytime he pulls on a City shirt with a neat little one-two that he really should have converted into an equaliser - Elano receives the ball on the egde of the box from Garrido before the one-two with Petrove but he pulls the ball to the right across goal and it drifts wide of the right post much to the relief of the flailing Robinson!
- 20' RED CARD ZOKORA! Spurs are down to 10 men as Zokora is given his marching orders by referee Steve Bennett. It wasn't the smartest of tackles by the Ivory Coast man as he lunges in two-footed at Elano but he did get the ball and failed entirely to make contact with the City midfield so a straight red seems pretty harsh
- 5' GOAL SPURS! 0-1! Simple work from Spurs as Jenas splits the City defence with a ball for Lennon, who is cutting in from the right wing. Lennon finds Defoe on the penalty spot and it is a simple tap in for the striker, despite the attentions of Dunne. Hart stood no chance from such close quarters

Live Team Line-Up

Manchester City

Manager: Sven-Göran Eriksson

Captain: Richard Dunne

Starting line-up
- J. Hart
- V. Corluka
- M. Richards
- R. Dunne
- J. Garrido
- D. Hamann
- M. Johnson
- B. Elano
- D. Vassell
- M. Petrov
- R. Bianchi
Subs
- E. Mpenza 68′
- M. Ball 77′
- A. Isaksson
- D. Geovanni 58′
- F. Gelson
Injured

None

Suspended

None
Tottenham Hotspur

Manager: Juande Ramos

Captain: Paul Robinson

Starting line-up
- P. Robinson
- P. Chimbonda
- D. Zokora
- Y. Kaboul
- L. Young-Pyo
- A. Lennon
- J. Jenas
- K. Boateng
- S. Malbranque
- D. Berbatov
- J. Defoe
Subs
- T. Tainio 22′
- T. Huddlestone 88′
- R. Cerny
- J. O'Hara 71′
- A. Taarabt
Injured

None

Suspended

None