FOR YOU BOSS
MARTIN SAMUEL
HEARTBROKEN Riyad Mahrez sealed a crucial victory for Manchester City by scoring the winning goal against Tottenham at Wembley — with the winger dedicating his strike to the Leicester owner and his father figure Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
Mahrez formed a key part of the Leicester team that won the Premier League under the stewardship of Srivaddhanaprabha, who tragically died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s King Power stadium on Saturday evening.
City returned to the top of the Premier League table thanks to Mahrez’s sixth-minute goal but the Algerian revealed he had struggled to sleep after hearing the owner had died. Srivaddhanaprabha was known for his particularly close bond with the Leicester squad and Mahrez pointed to the heavens after putting City in front.
Mahrez said: ‘It has been very difficult for me. The boss was very special to me, I spent four and a half years there. He was such a good person and such a good human, so I am very, very sad.
‘That is why, when I scored, I point my hands up to the sky to him, he was great to me and to the club. He was like a dad to me, he was a very special person. I was heartbroken and it is really tough for me to hear this.
‘I’m with Leicester and I’m with the family of the victims because it is not an easy situation. I always wanted to play because I know he would have wanted me to play. He was very passionate about football. It was difficult to sleep after hearing about it — you have to try and deal with these things in life but it is very difficult.’
City manager Pep Guardiola paid tribute to his matchwinner: ‘Of course we spoke with him, to see how he felt. It is a big loss for Leicester and Riyad was part of it. I didn’t speak about leaving him out because I know how competitive he is and I know his personality.’
Guardiola was, however, unhappy with the state of the Wembley pitch after the game took place just one day after the NFL match between Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. As a result, the surface did not look up to Premier League standard.
The NFL logo was clear in the centre circle, the playing area was scarred brown in three pitch-long stripes — one for each of the touchlines that sit narrower than a football pitch and one down the middle. A mess, in other words, like the delays affecting the build of Tottenham’s new stadium.
Guardiola said before the game he was ‘worried’ as to whether his players would finish the match ‘in shape’. Afterwards, he insisted Spurs would have equalised if a bobble had not deceived Erik Lamela, who struck over from close range.
‘It was not football conditions to play,’ said the City boss. ‘For our players and the players of Tottenham, hopefully they will sort the problem for the future. If the grass is good, then Lamela scores.’
Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld added: ‘I have to be honest, the pitch wasn’t good. Both teams like to play out from the back. To play in these circumstances, it was very difficult.’
Everyone is so focused on the aesthetic qualities of City that their new defensive resilience is passing under the radar.
This was a sixth consecutive Premier League clean sheet, equalling their previous best run in 2015. They had to repel a Spurs side chasing an equaliser for 84 minutes, plus stoppage time. Protecting a single goal advantage against them, certainly away from home, is not easy.
Yet City maintained an unbeaten run that has lasted 16 matches in this competition, with just six goals conceded in that time.
They needed to ride their luck. There was that Lamela chance after 80 minutes when set up by Dele Alli. He was in yards of space but blasted over.
These were tense late moments for Guardiola’s side. It would have been very different had they not squandered a chance to go two clear after 64 minutes when Bernardo Silva fed David Silva in the penalty area. Somehow, he stumbled and missed his kick, the ball falling to Raheem Sterling whose shot was blocked on the line.
Did the NFL-battered pitch affect the play? Well, City certainly went a little longer than usual from the start.
It helps that keeper Ederson was famed for the length and precision of his kicking when in Portugal.
His direct approach wrongfooted Tottenham and led to City taking the lead. That, and some woeful defending from Kieran Trippier.
The England international won the header from Ederson’s kick, but misdirected it — back towards goal but falling short of his own keeper Hugo Lloris and setting up a problematic foot race with Sterling.
Trippier lost that and was then skinned by Sterling again when he took up a recovering position. Now close to the byline, Sterling cut the ball back expertly into the path of Mahrez, whose finish was smart and clinical.
A minute later and City could have been two clear. Sergio Aguero flicked the ball out to Sterling and moved well for the return pass, which he fired into the side-netting.
In the 34th minute, Kane met a Lloris goal-kick — City were not the only ones experimenting with route one — sending the ball out to Lamela, who returned it with a smart pass.
Kane’s first touch, however, was lousy and Ederson was able to save at his feet. To his credit, Kane chose not to give the pitch a dirty look. TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris 6; Trippier 5, Alderweireld 6, Sanchez 6, Davies 5; Sissoko 6, Dier 6 (Winks 67); Dembele 6 (Alli 75), Lamela 6, Moura 6 (Eriksen 81); Kane 6. Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Son, WalkerPeters, Aurier. Booked: Moura, Davies. MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 6, Stones 7, Laporte 7, Mendy 5; Fernandinho 6, Bernardo Silva 8, Silva 8 (Kompany 89); Sterling 7, Aguero 6 (De Bruyne 71), Mahrez 7 (Jesus 90). Subs not used: Muric, Sane, Otamendi, Foden. Booked: Laporte, Fernandinho, Silva. Man of the match: David Silva. Referee: Kevin Friend. Attendance: 56,854.