Fansided

Tottenham’s miracle Champions League run continues

By Jake Walerius

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - MAY 08: Lucas Moura of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team's third goal with Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final second leg match between Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur at the Johan Cruyff Arena on May 08, 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - MAY 08: Lucas Moura of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his team's third goal with Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final second leg match between Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur at the Johan Cruyff Arena on May 08, 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images) /
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Tottenham completed another historic Champions League comeback on Wednesday, coming from three goals down to make the final.

After Liverpool’s historic comeback against Barcelona on Tuesday, it couldn’t have required a great leap of the imagination for Tottenham’s players to picture themselves traveling to Madrid for the club’s first ever Champions League final in June. They only needed a goal, after all, to draw level with Ajax on aggregate, two to go through.

As it happened, they scored three, and thank goodness for that. Mathijs de Ligt gave Ajax the lead after only five minutes, leaping above Kieran Trippier to head Lasse Schone’s corner past Hugo Lloris, and Hakim Ziyech’s wonderful left-footed finish in the 35th minute made it 2-0 on the night, 3-0 on aggregate.

None of this felt particularly surprising as it happened. Spurs have been running on fumes for weeks, trotting out an ever-more crocked selection of central midfielders as the season has progressed and their injury list lengthened. They’d won only three times in their last 11 games heading into Wednesday’s second leg.

But there’s something about this competition, something that doesn’t quite add up. Ajax dropped off in the second half, as they had in the first leg, and two quick Lucas Moura goals made it 2-2 with over half an hour remaining. Moura made it three in the 95th minute to complete what must surely go down as the craziest pair of semifinals in this competition’s history.

Those goals were only the second, third and fourth Tottenham have scored since their 4-3 defeat to Manchester City in the second leg of their quarterfinal on April 17. The first two came from more or less nowhere, and a player who is unlikely to have even made the starting XI if not for an injury to Harry Kane sustained in that second leg against City.

And the third, what is there to say about the third? An ugly goal, a scuffed finish after Ajax failed to deal with a Tottenham long ball. There was a flick-on from Fernando Llorente in there somewhere, a nice pass from Dele Alli, and then there was mayhem, good-old-fashioned, how-did-that-happen mayhem.

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The goal felt fitting for this Tottenham side, who should have knocked out in the group stage, should have been undone by injuries in the round of 16, super should have been knocked out by Manchester City in the quarters and who trailed 3-0 against Europe’s favorite underdogs with 45 minutes remaining of their semifinal.

Mauricio Pochettino said before the match that he might have to try something else if he led his side to Champions League glory this season. No one was sure whether to take him seriously or not. It seems, frankly, ridiculous that a manager of his quality and age would consider such a thing. After a run like this, who could blame him?

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