Aston Villa’s captain, John McGinn, joked that he and his teammates would don Manchester City shirts on Tuesday in the hope Pep Guardiola’s side help them to clinch a Champions League spot by winning at Tottenham. Anything but a Spurs victory against the champions would guarantee Villa fourth place and a return to Europe’s premier competition for the first time since 1982-83.
Villa took a significant step towards sealing a Champions League berth after the substitute Jhon Durán’s heroic late double secured a draw against Liverpool in Jürgen Klopp’s final away game. Liverpool took the lead inside 62 seconds courtesy of an Emiliano Martínez own goal and led 3-1 after 48 minutes after goals from Cody Gakpo and Jarell Quansah. But Durán, who had scored once in the league since September, struck twice in the final five minutes of normal time.
If Spurs beat City the race for the top four will go to the final day when Villa travel to Crystal Palace and Tottenham visit the bottom club Sheffield United. “There’s some of us that have never been close to the Champions League in our life,” McGinn said.
“The manager [Unai Emery] has a no-excuse mentality. People have written us off and we’ve floated under the radar. We’ll have our Man City tops on [on Tuesday]. Big Jhon is a bit nuts at times, he’s a nightmare to play against. It was a brilliant effort towards the end. We got a bit of luck. It’s been a tough few weeks with lads coming back and playing through the pain barrier.”
Klopp blew kisses and doffed his cap to the adoring Liverpool supporters after the final whistle of a frenetic contest. “I enjoyed it, as always,” he said, of the moment he shared with the fans at full time.
“I still don’t feel like it’s the last time or whatever. I’m obviously more professional than I thought because I was completely in the game. I didn’t think for a second that it’s my last away game. I had no movie [in my head]. I was completely in the game. I appreciate so much what these boys and girls have been doing. The away fans, as always, were absolutely insane.
The Scotland captain, Andy Robertson, missed the game as a precaution and will return to training on Tuesday. “I don’t feel frustrated today,” Klopp said. “Maybe I should but I just don’t. We’ve all seen these kind of games before when one team is playing for absolutely everything and another is fixed in the position they are. Emery’s teams are historically sensationally well organised.”
