Son Scores Direct from a Corner as Tottenham Beats Man United 4-3 in English League Cup

Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Quarter Final - Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 19, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Radu Dragusin and Yves Bissouma REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Quarter Final - Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 19, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Radu Dragusin and Yves Bissouma REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
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Son Scores Direct from a Corner as Tottenham Beats Man United 4-3 in English League Cup

Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Quarter Final - Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 19, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Radu Dragusin and Yves Bissouma REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Quarter Final - Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 19, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Radu Dragusin and Yves Bissouma REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Son Heung-min scored a spectacular goal directly from a corner to fire Tottenham into the English League Cup semifinals in a thrilling 4-3 win over Manchester United on Thursday.
Spurs will play Premier League leader Liverpool for a place in the final, and Arsenal was drawn against Newcastle in the other last-four matchup.
Son’s strike in the 88th-minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium came as Spurs tried to hold off a dramatic comeback from United, having led 3-0 in the second half, The Associated Press reported.
United had pulled it back to 3-2 and was pushing for an equalizer when Son whipped in a curling right-footed shot past goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, it said.
“Obviously we made it harder than it should have been, for sure," Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said and added, “Are you not entertained?”
United’s players complained Bayindir had been fouled by Tottenham’s Lucas Bergvall as Son’s shot flew past him. Replays appeared to show contact between the two, but with no VAR at this stage of the competition, there was no chance of a review.
Jonny Evans scored again for United in stoppage time, but Spurs held on for the win that had looked all but certain shortly after halftime.
Having gone ahead through Dominic Solanke’s goal from close range in the 15th, Tottenham took control after the break.
Dejan Kulusevski doubled the lead a minute after the restart and Solanke fired in his second in the 54th.
United head coach Ruben Amorim made a triple substitution — bringing on Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo.
It quickly had an impact with Zirkzee forcing Fraser Forster into a flying save and then capitalizing on a loose pass by the Tottenham goalkeeper to make it 3-1.
Forster was guilty of another mistake in the 70th when his attempted clearance was closed down by Diallo and ricocheted over the line.
United increased the pressure, but Son’s unlikely goal gave Spurs a cushion again — and it proved to be the decisive strike after Evans’ late header reduced the deficit again.
“I know the studio (punditry team) is probably going into meltdown over my lack of tactics,” Postecoglou said. “I love the fact that we go out there and take it to oppositions.”



Dias Injury Latest Blow in Manchester City's Calamitous Run

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 15, 2024 Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund in action with Manchester City's Ruben Dias Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 15, 2024 Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund in action with Manchester City's Ruben Dias Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
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Dias Injury Latest Blow in Manchester City's Calamitous Run

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 15, 2024 Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund in action with Manchester City's Ruben Dias Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 15, 2024 Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund in action with Manchester City's Ruben Dias Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Manchester City will be without defender Ruben Dias for three to four weeks with a muscle injury, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday, another blow for the reeling champions whose hopes of hanging on to the Premier League title are dwindling.

City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday hoping to right the ship amid the worst run of results in Guardiola's managerial career that has them languishing fifth in the league table. They also have just one victory to show for their last 11 games across all competitions.

Dias was injured in City's calamitous 2-1 derby loss to Manchester United on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"It was a muscular injury, (after) 75 minutes against Manchester United he felt something. He is so strong and he stayed on the pitch and now he is injured," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.

Fellow defender Manuel Akanji, however, returned to training this week after suffering an injury early this month, "which is good for us," Guardiola said.

City lost to United in spectacular fashion last weekend, leading in the 88th minute before their cross-town rivals scored two goals in less than two minutes.

Guardiola looked disconsolate after, and pointed the finger squarely at himself for the shocking run, telling reporters during a long and heartfelt post-game press conference that "I am not good enough."

His mood had improved by Friday.

"I just finished a game where we were close to winning and we lost. For the sequences that happened I was not happy," Guardiola said. "I tried to be honest with myself here right now in six or seven days ago, (but) if you fall down six times you have to stand up seven.

"I am fine. I am a normal person with feelings like all of us. When a situation is going well we are better and when it is not going well professionally we are more (focused) on what we have to do."

Just two points and two places behind Guardiola's team in the league table, Aston Villa will climb over City with a victory on Saturday at Villa Park.

Unai Emery's team have also had significantly more success than City in their Champions League campaign, where they are fifth in the standings with two games left in the league phase while City are languishing in 22nd.

"I'm not surprised. Top, excellent manager. (They had good success) qualifying for the Champions League and the results in the Champions League they speak for themselves," Guardiola said. "They are handling it well because when I have been in many clubs handling both competitions, they have done really well."

City lost 1-0 at Villa Park just over a year ago before rebounding to thrash Emery's side 4-1 in early-April. Guardiola said, however, there was little he could glean from those games.

"Why do you have to compare what happened?" the Spaniard said. "The past is the past, this is a new moment, you have to deal with it."