"All the praise to him. He’s a great guy" - Erling Haaland lauds Manchester City teammate for his 'man of the match' performance against Spurs

Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland has praised goalkeeper Stefan Ortega for his save in the 86th minute of their game against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, May 14. The German goalkeeper prevented Son Heung-min from scoring an equaliser when City were leading 1-0.

Both teams had a pretty sedate start to the game in a must-win clash for the Cityzens. Haaland broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, getting on the end of a Kevin De Bruyne cross.

However, Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson collided with Spurs centre-back Cristian Romero around the hour mark. The Brazilian received extensive on-field treatment but was later taken off.

Besides a few games in Ederson's absence, Ortega hasn't started many games for City this season. However, the German shot-stopper played an instrumental role in helping Pep Guardiola's men stay alive in the race for the Premier League with his 86th-minute stop.

Son was one-on-one with Ortega and struck the ball towards the bottom left corner of the goal. However, Ortega made a brilliant save, denying Spurs the equalizer. Haaland slotted a spot-kick in injury time to help the Cityzens take an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Commenting on Ortega's save in the dying embers of the game, the Norwegian striker said (via Mirror):

"He's a fantastic keeper. All the praise to him. He’s a great guy. He was man of the match. Ederson also made some fantastic saves and it’s important. That’s why we need everyone in the team and people that don’t start. We have to help each other."

Haaland admitted that the team felt the pressure of needing to take all three points from their game against Ange Postecoglou's men following Arsenal's 1-0 win against Manchester United. After a rather slow start to the game, Manchester City felt the pressure intensify in the second half.

He stated:

"Of course you go through a lot of emotions in the game. Everyone felt it and was so nervous, but we did the job, and we look forward now. In the end, it’s about staying focused and trying to do our job on the pitch and play football. We managed to do it - Tottenham are a good team and it was really difficult. There were a lot of emotions, but we won and that’s the only thing that matters."

"Now we relax and focus on the next one. We believe in ourselves. We now have one final left - let’s go for it."

Manchester City will take on West Ham United on Sunday, May 19, the final matchday of the season.

---

Manchester City inch closer to their sixth Premier League title in seven years

Manchester City only need to beat the Hammers on Sunday to clinch their sixth Premier League title in seven years. Despite their recent run-of-the-mill performances, David Moyes's men can be tough competitors and overcoming them might be a challenging task for the defending champions.

As for title-chasers Arsenal, they take on Everton at home and will be hoping that the Hammers pull off a massive upset, allowing the Gunners to claim their first Premier League title in over two decades.

Should both teams lose their respective fixtures, the winner will be decided in terms of goal difference and Arsenal are currently leading in that statistic.

Notably, Mikel Arteta's men now have more wins this season than they did in the year of the 'Invincibles' in 2003-04.