For much of the 21st century, just touching the Champions League was considered a success for Tottenham Hotspur.
Reaching the finals was unthinkable. I shouldn’t have even thought about it. Stay in your lane and focus on getting into the top four, okay?
It made Spurs’ path to incredible success in 2019 sweet. “It was impossible, so we did it,” said Moussa Sissoko after the match. “We had heart, and Lucas Moura,” commented Christian Eriksen.
The signing of Lucas Moura from Paris Saint-Germain was seen as an ‘opportunity’ by Tottenham, according to former manager Mauricio Pochettino. “We are a club where we sign opportunities…we are in different positions and different realities,” said the Argentine player in January 2018 when he arrived.
The view was that Spurs could not compete with the rest of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ in the transfer market – he pointed to Manchester United’s acquisitions of Alexis Sanchez and Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte that month in the same interview – and Lucas was there. a prize that just fell into their laps.
The Brazilian’s stock fell slightly after leaving hometown club Sao Paulo for PSG in 2013 for £38m. He arrived in France as a prodigy, but left it with ‘what could have happened’, remembered mostly for good things that rarely lasted more than a few seconds and being Neymar’s best friend.
Tottenham didn’t have anyone like Lucas in their squad when he arrived, severely lacking a traditional winger who could step up when their trademark players – Dele Alli, Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane – were all absent.
The breakthrough came in the 2018/19 season, his first full campaign in north London, which benefited from an injury crisis that affected almost every player. He would go on to score a Premier League double, including a brace in a 3-0 win at Manchester United – which blew Jose Mourinho’s mind by demanding ‘respect’ – and a first-ever hat-trick. at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Lucas’ amazing year was unforgettable in Amsterdam.
With 2-0 at night and 3-0 after combining both legs, Tottenham was on the verge of exiting the Champions League in the semi-final stage after three stages of football against Ajax.
Despite Premier League fortunes bleeding from Spurs, no one would have blamed them for falling to this iteration of Ajax, who had already beaten Real Madrid and Juventus. They were friendly and energetic, brave and courageous. Tottenham, with all the fighting spirit they had shown up to this point in the competition, were dead on their feet.
Until they don’t exist. It was impossible until they did it.
Shortly after the break, Ajax pushed a few men forward for a free-kick, but the delivery was weak and Spurs broke away. Danny Rose switched the ball between Matthijs de Ligt’s legs and gave it to Dele to carry. He got to the edge of the box before Lucas swept the ball from his toes and rolled it past goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Tottenham came out, and they soon had another goal. Kieran Trippier’s low ball was met by Fernando Llorente, whose shot from inside the six-yard box was somehow kept out by Onana. But the Cameroonian clashed with team-mate Lasse Schone, and Lucas bent the ball between four Ajax bodies before firing home – without looking at the goal as he released it.
Pochettino’s side had 31 minutes of regulation time and five minutes of stoppage time to find the winner. It would not have passed that time when the ball found Ajax for the third time.
The danger seemed to have passed for Ajax. With less than a minute of added time to play, Tottenham conceded their last corner.
94:20. Onana received a yellow card for time wasting. He didn’t even take the next goal until 94:38. The sting was gone.
Ajax only needed to block the ball for 22 seconds. To his credit, Onana curled the ball deep into Tottenham’s half, but the lack of strength in the air – which allowed Llorente and Sissoko to bully their way up the pitch in the second half – meant they couldn’t keep it there.
94:42. Eriksen tackles Dusan Tadic for the first ball. Sissoko is about to dispossess Daley Sinkgraven for the second time, allowing Toby Alderweireld to head over.
94:48. Llorente and De Ligt battled for a loose ball, and for once, the Dutchman prevailed. Or at least he thought he did. The veteran Spaniard did enough to make De Ligt’s head spin. The material was flat and easy to replace.
94:51. Spurs did not have good control of the ball and were not even in Ajax’s half, but their managers were still in shock. There was still time for the last hoof. Ben Davies came on ahead of Hakim Ziyech and Son took his place in the center circle, returning to Sissoko to score again. His shank looked cropped and short. The ball was on its way but still nowhere near Onana’s box.
94:57. The ball landed 30 yards from goal, where Llorente once again tangled with De Ligt. This time, both were fighting for their lives. There wasn’t enough time to play tricks. Llorente’s quick look up saw the full-back coming up behind again, but it was Dele who supported him. A slight lift of Llorente’s left boot directs the ball to Spurs’ number 20.
94:59. There was no time to think. Dele had one moment of courage to act. A slip from Lisandro Magallan gave him a crucial second to plant himself correctly, knowing that Lucas was running wide, the same play for his first goal of the night.
Beyond the fallen legs of Magallan went. De Ligt, on a bad trip and looking for an immediate redemption, appeared to be the first to do so, with Nicolas Tagliafico on his left to reduce the angle if anything went wrong.
95:00. The first toe on the ball was Lucas’s. A left foot, a powerful swing, and a moment that seemed to last forever.
95:01.
Bang.
Lucas’ ninth low-drive first goal of the season, his trademark, is for him just an ordinary shot and, without context, an ordinary goal. But the level of difficulty to enter at a fast pace and keep the ball down, let alone accurate without dragging, on his weak foot and the last second of the biggest game of his life.
And that was the confusing thing about Lucas. No one believed in him more than he did. He made the impossible seem easy and the simple seem impossible, a walking illustration of Sissoko’s post-match emotions.
Ajax two, Tottenham Hotspur three.
Last chance for Spurs. How appropriate i chance to score.
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