James Maddison had been jogging up and down the touchline with increasing purpose, eyes darting ever more frequently towards the technical area, for at least five minutes when the call finally came. A match that had rarely risen above a low hum was 72 minutes old and needed something, someone. Tottenham’s support had barely known him for three months, and only for 11 competitive games, when he injured his ankle in November. The din that greeted his return to the pitch said plenty about the dizzying romance all parties had plunged into last summer.
The stage might have been set for a swift resumption of the love affair but Manchester City had already called upon a comeback king who changes games as readily as mere mortals breathe. Kevin De Bruyne has not started a match for five and a half months and was not deemed ready to be pitched in here, instead making a third substitute appearance since his hamstring troubles cleared. While Maddison strained to meet Ange Postecoglou’s line of sight, Pep Guardiola calmly unloaded the most potent weapon he could deploy. It was De Bruyne who injected the attacking penetration that City, for all their weaved patterns and half-chances to shoot, had lacked for more than an hour and ultimately his influence picked the lock.
