In the most amazing soccer comeback in the history of the world, or at least since yesterday, Tottenham pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win over Ajax today to advance to the Champions League final.
Spurs, heavily hobbled by a series of seemingly catastrophic injuries, had to look long and hard for a hero. Thankfully, one emerged in the form of the talented but inconsistent Lucas Moura.
The match couldn’t have started better for Ajax. Coming into the game with a big 1-0 win in the first leg of this semifinal tie back in London, the Dutch club went up 2-0 today with goals in the 5th and 35th minutes. Tottenham looked threatening all night, especially because of Ajax’s eventually suicidal commitment to its perma-attacking style, but it wasn’t until the second half that they started to turn things around.
Moura was the main man on all of Tottenham’s goals. He scored for the first time in the 55th minute, capitalizing on Ajax’s brainless insistence on sending tons of bodies forward in attack with an outstanding sprint which he capped with a cool finish:
Just a few minutes later, Moura added another, making up with a typically inept Fernando Llorente attempt on goal with his extremely quick feet and calmness under pressure:
With over a half an hour to go, Tottenham were just one goal away from a spot in the final. Even in light of their second half collapse, Ajax still couldn’t muster the good sense to play a little more cautiously, and continued to push for a third goal of their own. In doing so, they left Tottenham plenty of space to counter into in the other direction. It was a long time coming, but in the sixth minute of a scheduled five minutes of stoppage time, Moura once again hit the back of the net:
Obviously, this is an absolutely enormous result for a Tottenham team that has enjoyed its greatest ever spell under manager Mauricio Pochettino and yet have never came all that close to one of the big trophies. Now Tottenham are just a win away from becoming the first Spurs team to ever win the European Cup, when they face Liverpool in the Champions League final. One notable Spurs fan, TNT commentator and retired basketball legend Steve Nash, was appropriately overcome with emotion after the win:
The moment caught up with Pochettino, too:
I think we can say it: this is the greatest Champions League season ever.