With Tottenham Hotspur knowing Champions League qualification for 2019/20 and a top four spot this year remains squarely in our hands, it was time for one full and final effort against Ajax earlier tonight as we faced them in the second leg of the Champions League Semi-Final affair.
With a poor first half, albeit with improvement in the second period, at White Hart Lane we trail 1-0 in the tie, but it is far from over and special things can happen in Cup competitions as admirably (albeit begrudgingly) Liverpool proved yesterday evening in their clash against Barcelona.
Sadly the first half proved for some that it wasn’t to be as Ajax started brighter and scored five minutes in. Spurs did rally somewhat, but with chances wasted more defensive sloppiness saw us fall 2-0 behind on the night and 3-0 on aggregate and we hadn’t even reached the halftime break yet.
Yet again the second half was a little different, and Lucas Moura helped himself to a brace before the hour mark to tie things up as we made a far better stab at things…3-2 on aggregate…could we dream the dream and had we just lulled them into a false sense of security?
Often criticised, second half substitute Fernando Llorente needs his moment in the sun here for help to get us back on level terms as he had a good impact when he came on as Victor Wanyama’s replacement at the halftime break. If this is the 34-year-old’s final season with us, he goes out with his head held high after that.
Six minutes of stoppage-time hell put the concerns to rest as Lucas Moura completed his hattrick and put himself into our history books as we levelled the tie properly at 3-3 and aggregate was now on our side.
Ajax for all their praise, we utterly dominated the second half and that is what history records.
Victory, a first ever Champions League Final since the European rebrand and we now look to Klipp Klopp.
Jesus, what a night. They say you don’t win anything with kids…walks of whistling.
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Johan Cruyff Arena
Champions League Semi-Finals 2nd leg
8/05/2019 9:00 pm
Referee: Brych
| Ajax | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| de Ligt (5), Ziyech (35) | Lucas Moura (55, 59) | ||||||
| Onana | Lloris | ||||||
| Mazraoui | Trippier | 81 | |||||
| de Ligt | Alderweireld | ||||||
| Blind | Vertonghen | ||||||
| Tagliafico | Rose | 82 | |||||
| Schone | 60 | Wanyama | 45 | ||||
| de Jong | Sissoko | ||||||
| Ziyech | Eriksen | ||||||
| van de Beek | 90 | Alli | |||||
| Dolberg | 67 | Lucas Moura | |||||
| Tadic | Son Heung-Min | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Veltman | 60 | Lamela | 81 | ||||
| Sinkgraven | 67 | Dier | |||||
| Huntelaar | Llorente | 45 | |||||
| Magallan | 90 | Foyth | |||||
| Traore | Gazzaniga | ||||||
| Semedo Varela | Davies | 82 | |||||
| de Wit | Skipp | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 16 | Goal attempts | 24 |
| 4 | On Target | 7 |
| 6 | Corners | 9 |
| 13 | Fouls | 12 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 40 | % | 60 |