2 nights of amazing games....Hate to see Spurs do well, but blimey what a game.

Yes it's total bs, I knew Spurs would win this on away goals no matter what, all so predictable, they'll probably go on to win it now with their obscene luck, stinks just like when Chelsea won it after getting battered by Barca and Bayern..

It has to be a deliberate pass, deflections don't count. Mind you it does depend on what day of the week it happens and if it's a leap year.................

I'd rather they were stuck in a semi final and then a final than they finish above us in the league.

After this City are more likely to do us favours in the league and Spurs already stretched squad will have to be managed carefully. Hopefully Ajax can catch them on the hop as they did Juve & Madrid

Is that right? I thought I’d seen something on that before.

No doubt that irrespective of VAR spurs have massively ridden their luck in this competition.

If only we can get some similar luck in knock out games

VAR is a disaster. I hate it. It was meant to correct obvious errors. It's nothing of the sort. Football is getting worse. Yellow cards for simple fouls. Diving all over the place. Nobody has a clue what constitutes a handball. And VAR seemingly being applied arbitrarily.

Son suspended for the first leg. Kane will probably miss the game or they’ll rush him back again.

Such a strange game - at no point did I think spurs were the better team over 180 minutes. City shot themselves in the foot.

Also probably time to remove the away goals rule in European football. With modern travel and preparation there is no need for this rule any more.

I don’t want to even think about permutations right now.

This could be on the verge of being catastrophic

I don't give a f*ck what anyone says this is all on Stan Kroenke.

#KillWiggy

City will suffer the way we suffered when we were going for 3/4 competitions.

What is strange is the way Pep seems to throw it every time with his wierd team selections.

Why leave Fernandhino on the bench? Why play Kompany?

Spurs will do the same they will bottle it eventually........................

I think a VAR is good for the game but it could slow down the game and they should do what the NFL does and have an extra referee dedicated to VAR review.

Sperz will not win the CL. You all have the American Gooner guarantee.

That said even being in a semi or final is huge.
Remember Leeds in the semis?

Still dont see sperz going through (fingers crossed).

I promise you that as the use of VAR progresses, your frustration will rise. Don't be surprised if, next year, the exact same thing happened against us in the last minute and the VAR paid it.

Or a team gain possession from a clear foul, go up the park and score but they never even consider the foul. First of all they need to declare if the attacking side will be given the benefit of the doubt so they should not come back and look at whose leg is just in front etc. But they will because the person sitting watching the screen has his favorites and will adjudge accordingly - Kane goals will count - Lacazette will be offside. Plus the reviewer who refs according to the league table will just be making the decision and not the ref.

I have heard the ref will not be able to go to a screen and look at the footage in the UK VAR system- can anyone tell me if it is correct. That is a serious flaw if it happens. But then this is an FA who allowed Spurs to change stadiums when it suited them.

You've been following football a while. Have you never noticed how unpredictable it is? Tottenham have Ajax in the semi. Ajax certainly have a chance but I'd say Tottenham are the favourites. If they do beat Ajax, it'll then be Barcelona or Liverpool in the final. I'd say Barcelona and Liverpool would start favourites but in a one-off game, worse teams than Tottenham have beaten better teams than Barcelona and Liverpool. Whichever one it is, who's to say Messi or Salah won't miss the final through injury? It could happen.

Make no mistake, Tottenham have a genuine chance of winning the Champions League. It's silly to deny it.

The spurs v Ajax semi will be interesting as both teams have clung to the under dogs tag and used it will so far. Neither can claim to be clear underdogs in that tie.
I hope and think that there is just something about this Ajax side this season. A bit like Monaco from 2 years ago. A perfect storm of a team. Spurs won’t have Son for the first leg either.
Having said that, spurs fans and players will probably feel that despite all the nearly moments of failure in the CL this season they keep getting through and maybe their name is on it.
12 mins away from elimination in match day 4
Late equaliser v a Barca B team to stay in the comp
Late goals v Inter to make it through the group
Withstood an absolute battering away to Dortmund
Survived two VAR calls v city
You really do need that little bit of luck to get this far in these completions.
Even Liverpool had a bit of luck as Napoli we’re 1 late easy chance from knocking them out in the group stage as well

I’d certainly feel more confident if spurs had Barca and then maybe Liverpool in the final.

By making at least the semi finals Liverpool and Spurs are on course for somewhere between €70-80 million in prize money. I think we get a maximum of €35-40 if we won the Europa League.

That is one extra top class player per team. It is absolutely vital we get back in the champions league next year

On another note, its a great advert for the PL (not that it needs it) that so many clubs are in the semis for the CL.

In addition to luck, you need resilience and courage, which Spurs have demonstrated this season. My bones are telling me it will be a Spurs Liverpool final. Liverpool are probably the best equipped to stop them but ...

The second var decision spot on says Clattenburg as the ball touched Silva on the way through and that made the scorer offside.

His can you say var isn't fair whenvthe ref made two very correct decisions? Okay it may not be fair on the losers but if it was then it was and there's no point arguing about it?

Var works...........

I agree. It is imperfect and always will be with marginal decisions, but it does mean that the flagrantly wrong decisions get overturned.

I also love the away goals rule. It add that bonkers element, it encourages the away team to attack, and it makes the dreaded extra time and penalties unlikely.

It's a lot of fun too (albeit not if we flop feebly to Barca or Bayern every time) in the latter phases. The last two rounds have been scintillating.

With the way Messi is playing I have a feeling he may drag them to the title

It has been strange that more of Europe’s really big hitters haven’t made serious moves for some of spurs’ players in the last 3 years. We all know that all these players could double or triple their wages easily.

Perhaps now that they are really being noticed in the later stages of the CL spurs will feel the same unrest we had to cope with season after season.
I’m certain Alderweireld is off with his £25m release clause. A bargain for anyone
Eriksen has refused numerous contract offers and only has 1 year left on his deal this summer.
Ali and Kane are most likely to stay but if I were Real/Barca etc I’d be going for Son. What a big game player.

For Llorente's goal the ref was only shown one angle over and over again. Who decided that? The replays before the VAR review by the ref had several view of it from different angles and in one of those you can see the ball hit his arm and then his thigh. But the ref never got to see that.

There was the VAR offisde incident in the Chelsea v Totts game where Chelsea came up with a view from a different camera angle which was in direct contrast to the VAR one. I've no issue with its use for clear and obvious mistakes but it is being used for marginal decisions and for some reason the footage being made available to refs is not always comprehensive.

Also, the thought process seems to be "How can we disallow this goal?" Goal line technology is great. VAR is a mess.

Encouraging the away team to attack was the main thinking behind the introduction of the away goal rule. I'm not sure, but I've a feeling someone here moaned about it, and in giving their reasons why it was no longer justified failed to mention that principle reason for bringing it in. I'd say it still works. City will know they lost because they failed to score an away goal and Tottenham did. There is a big incentive to score an away goal.

If we get one tonight Napoli will need four, so we should be close to safe. It would take a huge balls up to do that. Should we get a goal, Napoli will regret not going for a goal at the Emirates more than they did (despite missing two sitters they didn't attack us that much).

Having said that, I find penalty shoot outs exciting and I'd have thought many people do.

I'd say the away goal doesn't succeed in making the away team attack most of the time. Man City took the game to Tottenham for most of the tie. Over the 180 minutes, they were unquestionably the team that attacked more. They went out.

I have two problems with it:

1. There really shouldn't be a reward for scoring the same amount of goals as your opponent.

2. Although it sometimes adds to the excitement it can also kill games in an instant. Tonight's game for example. Say Napoli go in at half time 1-0 up. The tie is beautifully balanced. Say it's still 1-0 with 20 mins left. Tension is building but then Arsenal score and it's all over barring the most unlikely comeback. Worse still is if a team such as Atletico scores an away goal after 5 minutes of the first leg. Cue 175 mins of parking the bus and general shitehousery.

The thinking behind it is admirable and it was probably a very good idea in the days before the back pass rule. But for me it is far too much of a distortion.

Saw that about the different view but thought he had touched in and that ref had considered it ball to hand.

As an unbiased ref {cough cough} imo he made the right decision.

I think VAR is a huge success so far, both decisions were spot on last night and even Barca had a non-penalty overturned on Tuesday.

If VAR had been around in 2005, we'd still be unbeaten.

Yeah, surely got to be the approach tonight - go all out for the away goal, Normally tie over, but with our defence.....

There's a big difference between 'making the away team attack most of the time' and 'making the away team attack more than they would without the away goal rule'. I think the latter phrase is both more realistic and closer to why it was introduced.

There will surely be countless examples, but our game tonight is a very clear one. Me and Niall have discussed the benefit of scoring tonight, and you have implied it too dec.

I think it might be stretching it a bit to say that VAR would have allowed us to go on a 15 year unbeaten run

Leno, Kos, Socratis, AMN and Monreal are reasonably confidence inspiring. Surely we can get a goal at least and hold them to 3 or less. My biggest worry is that someone is going to get sent off while we're fending off the initial Napoli onslaught.

I understand fully why it was introduced. That does not mean that the intention has come to fruition. I think it is a distortion which can cause a team's approach to go either way. And as tension-filled as it can make some games, it can also completely kill off a game.

I agree it is the right decision. Although apparently the rule changes on handball coming in next year would have disallowed it.
My issue as noted above was the lack of the full set of replays available to the ref. Now he may have come to the same conclusion that it was still a good goal, but when he made his decision he made a very clear gesture that the ball hit Llorente's hip. If the ref was simply looking to see if it hit his hand in order to make his decision he wasn't shown the only angle that made it clear it hit his hand.

VAR will work for matters of fact, just as goal line technology has worked. For everything else it is still subjective but the refs will be given 2 go's at getting it right. VAR will cause upset and confusion and certainly suits the TV fan more than the match day fan but more results will be fair because of it

....and we'd have beaten Liverpool in the 01 cup final.
....and possibly beaten barca in the CL in 06, Eto'o was a whisker offside for the equaliser - only visible on super slow mo VAR
Are there any major finals where things would have been worse for us if VAR was in play?

Sanchez handball for the 1st goal v Chelsea in the FA Cup final a few years back?

I'm so nervous about tonight.
Want us to go through so badly.
Worried we are going to rue all those missed chances to add to the 2 goals we scored last week.
I hope not.

I’m old enough to remember tossing a coin to decide in the event of a draw in Europe. And one incident where the coin stuck on its edge in the mud and had to be tossed again. Those were the days eh?