Tottenham stun Ajax with late comeback to set up Liverpool Champions League final
LUCAS MOURA struck three times. Lightning struck twice. And against the odds, with virtually the last kick of the game, Tottenham 'did a Liverpool' to join them in the Champions League final.
Tottenham beat Ajax 3-2 to reach the Champions League final (Image: GETTY)
There was ecstasy on the face of Mauricio Pochettino, who dashed on to the pitch when the ball went in and when the final whistle at last blew.
On the second sprint he was followed by his coaching and backroom staff, the substitutes and, lastly, moving a little less gingerly than he perhaps should have, Harry Kane.
Will the Spurs skipper be ready for the final? Because the team who were supposed to be unable to advance without him did just that thanks to a new hat-trick hero - Moura becoming the inspirational figure we were beginning to think only Liverpool could produce.
In essence, this was Barcelona on Tuesday and Istanbul in 2005 rolled into one. The three-goal deficit was the same as at Anfield and the time needed to do something about it the same as when Steven Gerrard inspired the impossible.
The only difference was that three goals were enough. No extra-time. No need to snatch a fourth.
When the final whistle blew, the Ajax players lay scattered around the Johan Cruyff Arena like a box of red and white matches. On a day when fingers had been pointed at Barcelona's capitulation, Ajax had nothing to be ashamed of.
They had taken the game to Spurs in the first leg and battled until the end.
Lucas Moura scored a hat-trick to send Spurs through (Image: GETTY)
Tottenham's late goal sealed a perfect second half performance (Image: GETTY)
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Ajax took a 2-0 lead but Tottenham fought back to progress (Image: GETTY)
And, credit to their fans, to a man there was applause when the final whistle finally sounded. Cheers for the Tottenham team and proud songs for their own players, who had thought in the final minute of added time they would going to Madrid for the final.
But the beauty - and the cruelty - of football is that it can all change in an instant.
In the sixth minute of stoppage time, a long hopeful ball from Moussa Sissoko was slipped through the heart of the Ajax defence by Dele Alli.
Moura needed no second invitation. Bang. It had happened again. Another problematic three-goal aggregate lead overturned.
Maybe after the miracle of Anfeld, Tottenham felt that chasing a mere one goal deficit was no longer worthy of a Champions League semi-final. Why else would they leave themselves two goals further adrift with a tepid first-half display? From the first corner Ajax's danger man Matthijs de Ligt spun away from Kieran Trippier and rose high above Alli to nod the hosts in front on the night.
Then, 10 minutes before the break, Donny van de Beek fed Dusan Tadic, who pulled it back for Hakim Ziyech to bulge the net.
On the eve of the game, Pochettino had spoken of "living the dream", but now his half-time talk was all that could prevent it from turning into a nightmare.
Throughout the break, Fernando Llorente spent a lonely vigil in the centrecircle getting ready to be thrust into the action. But it was Moura who was about to come to the fore.
Ajax players were devastated after Tottenham's late winner (Image: GETTY)
Tottenham will face Liverpool in the Champions League final in Spain (Image: GETTY)
Danny Rose's intelligent break from the back enabled Alli to slip the ball to the Brazilian and his pace allowed him to find the back of the net.
Then four minutes later, it happened again. Initially, however, it looked like it had not, as Llorente's attempt to convert Trippier's cross was saved point-blank.
Moura, though, was a man on a mission, and whirling around the Ajax area like a Brazilian dervish, he eventually found an angle to slide the ball home for a second time.
Intelligently, Ajax kept trying to take the game to Tottenham. For one, it is the only way they know and, after Tuesday night, there seemed far too left to just try to hold out. Hugo Lloris soon saved well from De Ligt and the ball was hacked clear. Ziyech hit the post.
From a corner Jan Vertonghen, replete with the face protector required after his first-leg head clash, also headed against the bar.
It was going to take only one moment - and in the end Moura proved you do not need a mask to be a hero.