Ajax vs Tottenham: 5 things we learned as Lucas Moura hat-trick inspires Spurs to Champions League final
An incredible night in Amsterdam ended with the most incredible twist in... 24 hours
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Your support makes all the difference.Ajax looked to have reached the Champions League final after another dominant display against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Dutch champions brought a 1-0 lead home from north London after an impressive performance last Tuesday, and they simply carried on what they started at Tottenham's gleaming new stadium in the more familiar surroundings of the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Goals from Matthijs De Ligt and Hakim Ziyech left Spurs with a lot of work to do in the second half, but Lucas Moura hauled them back into the tie with a four-minute double salvo.
Andre Onana the Ajax goalkeeper was crucial in his side holding on, but in the final seconds of stoppage time it was Lucas again who popped up, beating Onana to complete the most incredible of comebacks.
But what did we learn? Here are five things.....
1. Kieran Trippier struggles
There are Spurs fans who, throughout this season, have questioned whether the Kieran Trippier we saw last summer at the World Cup was detained by the KGB and replaced by a clone of near-identical appearance but far inferior footballing ability.
On this night in Amsterdam, it was easy to see where those concerns had come from.
After a rough display against Ajax in London last week, Trippier was feeble in defence as the Dutch champions went 2-0 up before half-time.
The England full-back was pulled apart by the speed and movement of the hosts, and in attack he only began to contribute as Spurs' forwards got them back in the game.
2. De Ligt proves again to be a star
The consensus is that Matthijs De Ligt will join his friend and teammate Frenkie De Jong in Barcelona next season, with the Spanish club moving heaven and earth to secure his signing and reports leaking from Italy in recent days that Marc Overmars, Ajax's sporting director, had told his Juventus counterpart Fabio Paratici that the deal to take De Ligt to the Nou Camp was done.
Should that prove to be the case, Barca will have upgraded their calamitous central defence by bringing in one of the stars of this season's Champions League.
Not only has De Ligt proven to be a brilliant defender who reads the game well and bails out his teammates, he is also as comfortable in possession as you would expect from a player brought up in the Ajax youth system and, as again tonight, has scored some crucial goals.
The leap that the Ajax skipper gets to rise above opposing defenders is remarkable, leaving Juventus players rooted to the ground for that crucial quarter-final header and then Trippier and Dele Alli on the deck as he opened the scoring on this wildest of Champions League semi-final nights.
For a kid who has everything, the world awaits. The world can't wait to see what he does next.
3. Lucas Moura gives Spurs hope when nobody else could
Two brilliant goals, two brilliant moments.
Lucas Moura's contribution to Tottenham's comeback attempt only looks like two goals four minutes apart when you check out the score, but that does nothing to capture the effect of his pair of Champions League semi-final goals.
The Brazilian changed everything. He instilled a belief into a Spurs side that were dead and buried. His brilliant tight control in the face of a seemingly impossible situation for the second goal was the difference between failure (everybody's expectation, given the position he was in) and success (the barely believable result of his wizardry).
Son Heung-min and Moura might have been Mauricio Pochettino's only strike pairing available but it is also a dynamic one, featuring two players who have shown us at times this season just how good they can be.
Tonight won't go a long away to improve his standing at the club, it will change it forever.
A do-it-all player who fits in wherever he's told, he showed up more than any other Spurs player on the biggest stage. He fired them to a Champions League final. It was a magic night for Lucas Moura.
4. Andre Onana might be the Ajax star nobody's talking about
The bright yellow kit always helps, but Andre Onana's performance really stood out as Tottenham began to turn the screw on Ajax.
Onana made brilliant saves from Dele Alli, Son, Lucas and Christian Eriksen to keep out Spurs' barrage.
The incredible one to deny Jan Vertonghen late-on was, quite simply, the difference between Spurs being in the final and Ajax heading to Madrid. Then Lucas Moura's third, in the dying seconds, changed everything.
Barcelona have been linked with the Cameroon international as a back-up for Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, but this is a player who is far too good to be sat on the bench.
If David De Gea's situation in Manchester doesn't work out then Ed Woodward could do a lot worse.
5. Spurs complete one of the great comebacks
Just when you thought the Champions League had nothing left to give... it does this.
What can you even say?
Utterly engrossing, utterly remarkable, utterly brilliant.
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