Come the end X Come at the end: Which is correct?

Simon Vasconcelos 11 221
On Thursday, Chelsea met Monterey, from old Mexico and without thinking twice, beat them to gain the keys to paradise. European clubs have a 100 per cent winning record in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup and it was obvious from almost the very beginning of the match that there was little hope that that particular stat would be in need of alteration come the end of 90 minutes.

Extraí esse trecho de um jornal e gostaria de saber se podemos acrescentar, na parte em negrito, a preposição "at" depois do verbo "come".

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1 resposta
Henry Cunha 3 18 190
Not in this case. "Come the end of 90 minutes" actually means "at the end of 90 minutes."

This usage is similar:
Although his judgement is being questioned, he is sure that, come the end of it, he will be vindicated. = ...,he is sure that, at its conclusion, he will be vindicated.

Do you see the "that that" in the passage you quoted? You could split them apart by rewriting the passage as follows:

...there was little hope that, come the end of 90 minutes, that particular stat would be in need of alteration.