AJ CARAMBA
Ajax 2 Spurs 3 (3-3): Moura hat-trick seals epic comeback to put Spurs into final against Liverpool
Spurs come back from a three-goal aggregate deficit to win on away goals as Moura fires trio after De Ligt and Ziyech strikes
WHERE would you like your statue, Lucas?
Brazilian hero Lucas Moura, in for his hat-trick deep into injury-time, smashed it beyond Andre Onana.
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Ajax’s shell-shocked players fell to the floor and nobody could lift them in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
This was Liverpool-Barcelona and then some. The 95th-minute goal, with the stadium stopping in time, took Tottenham through to the Champions League final.
Just pause on that for a moment.
Two English teams are through because magical Moura stunned this stadium with a second-half treble. He has been immortalised.
This was an extraordinary night for Spurs, who produced the most improbably implausible comeback.
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Mauricio Pochettino cries during post match interview as Spurs dramatically knock out Ajax to face Liverpool in Champions League final
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To do it away from home, 1-0 down from the home leg, 3-0 down on aggregate at half-time, really is something special.
It is, as boss Mauricio Pochettino proclaimed, a miracle.
This season’s Champions League has been an astonishing journey for Spurs and there is the promise of more to come.
Liverpool against Spurs is a big enough fixture in the Premier League.
It takes on added significance now that it is the Champions League final.
English football is back.
The grandstand finish had been set up because Spurs somehow staged this spellbinding comeback.
Hat-trick hero Lucas Moura says this is the best moment of his career after amazing Ajax Champions League semi-final win
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Mauricio Pochettino in tears on the pitch after Spurs beat Ajax to reach Champions League final
Here is how they did it after the opening 45 minutes — a half when Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech put Ajax into a commanding lead.
It looked like a missed chance. But this is Liverpool and Tottenham’s thing now — with the two best teams in Europe advancing to the final in Madrid on June 1.
Spurs were a goal down inside five minutes, drifting off when defender De Ligt steered a header beyond Hugo Lloris.
When Ziyech’s peachy finish curled beyond the reach of Lloris ten minutes before the break, they needed to reboot.
Ajax were crawling all over them, with their intricate triangles and technical moves befuddling these Spurs players.
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Whenever Ajax came forward, they looked like they would score.
Their opening goal arrived after Lloris tipped away a fourth-minute effort from ex-Southampton star Dusan Tadic for a corner.
When Lasse Schone whipped in the outswinging corner, De Ligt gave poor old Kieran Trippier the runaround inside the area.
With Trippier disoriented, De Ligt rose easily, comfortably, embarrassingly, above Dele Alli to put the Dutchmen into the lead. Dele, along with a great many of these Spurs players, raised his game in the second half.
He played his part in the Spurs goal, the awkward moment for Ajax when Moura’s left-footed finish beat keeper Onana.
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Dele was rewarded for persistence, forcing Ajax to concede for the first time in this Champions League semi-final after 55 minutes.
There had been a warning for these Dutch boys in the previous attack, when Onana saved Dele’s chance at his near post.
But revved-up Dele was just getting going.
A different Tottenham turned up in the second half, summoning willpower and belief from inside the four walls of that dressing room.
Two halves, two different teams.
To watch Kieran Trippier bullied off the ball by Tadic, to be held off so easily in the move that led to Ajax’s second, did not reflect well on the right-back.
Tadic, hooking the ball into Donny van de Beek, carried on his run upfield as Ajax sliced through the Spurs defence.
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Midfielder De Beek rolled in Tadic and Ziyech, reading his pass on the left, finished sharply with a pinged effort from his right boot.
By then this stadium was rocking, with Ajax fans gearing up for the pilgrimage to Madrid for the final.
In the end, they needed those fans to get them across the line.
The doubts started to creep in after 55 minutes when Moura made it 2-1 on the night after Dele’s bounding run.
Four crazy minutes later, they were locked at 2-2. Trippier, channelling his inner Trent Alexander-Arnold, supplied the ball into the box for Fernando Llorente.
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The Spurs substitute battled away inside the area, Onana failed to hold on to the ball and Moura eventually got his shot away.
Game on.
Poch’s men were looking so much better, playing on the doubt and anxiety that filtered into these gifted young Ajax players.
They were tiring again, with wobbly legs carrying them into the final 25 minutes of this semi-final. Spurs were showing a different side to their character.
They had been too respectful again in the opening 45 — allowing De Ligt to look like Maldini, Nesta and Costacurta rolled into one.
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When he pinched the ball off Son Heung-min’s toes on the edge of the area, Spurs looked off the pace.
Despite Trippier’s second-half improvement, he was sacrificed with ten to play when Poch sent for Erik Lamela.
Ajax had just hit the post, with Ziyech smashing an effort off the upright as they tried to find the clincher.
On came Argentine winger Lamela for the final ten minutes, with Tottenham throwing another man up front as they went in search of another chance.
And luckily it came Moura’s way, with the Spurs forward finishing emphatically before celebrating wildly in front of travelling fans.
After this, they will fancy their chances of going on to win it.
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Incredible firework display goes off outside Tottenham’s hotel set off by Ajax ultras
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