After Moussa Sissoko had watched the alleged 5:3 of Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling on the bench, he immediately left the interior of the stadium and went into the cabin. Only minutes later did he find out that Tottenham had progressed.
It was the third minute of injury time in the quarter-final return leg between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur when a world collapsed for Moussa Sissoko. Raheem Sterling had just shot the 5:3 for the Citizens in injury time after Sergio Aguero’s fine preliminary work. Sissoko’s dream of a Champions League semi-final seemed to be a dream come true.
So the 29-year-old midfielder, who was injured and had to be replaced after only 40 minutes, left the Etihad Stadium in a knocked-down, “angry” mood and immediately moved into the cabin. He didn’t notice that Sterling’s 5:3 was taken away after video evidence.
“I was alone, no one accompanied me, no TV pictures. I thought we were out,” confessed Sissoko to the French sports daily L’Equipe. That was for a few minutes until a Spurs employee entered the cabin to cheer and celebrate with him.”
“Unbelievable, we made it,” he is said to have said and Sissoko replied: “What did we do?” Then the situation was resolved that City’s goal had not counted because of Aguero’s offside position.
“I immediately put on a T-shirt, forgot my injury and ran back out to the others so as not to miss the party. It was an incredible emotional shock,” said Sissoko.
In the first semi-final of the Spurs since reaching the final round of the 1962 National Champions’ Eurpo Cup, Tottenham will face the surprise team of Ajax Amsterdam. The Netherlands knocked out Real Madrid in the round of sixteen and Juventus Turin in the quarter-finals.
Tottenham should therefore be warned against the Dutch – just as Sissoko should be warned against a premature departure into the cabin.
