Mauricio Pochettino was reduced to tears as Tottenham booked their place in the Champions League final with a ‘miracle’ defeat of Ajax.
In the best European comeback since the night before, when Liverpool thumped Barcelona at Anfield, Lucas Moura’s second-half hat-trick secured a dramatic 3-2 win over the Dutch side.
Spurs’ win set-up an all-English Champions League final for the first time in over a decade – and Pochettino was full of emotion after the match.
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Pochettino was in tears at the full-time whistle
“It is difficult to talk. I am so emotional,” he said. “Thank you football. My players are heroes.
“The second half was amazing. This type of emotion is impossible without football.
“It is an amazing moment and it is difficult to explain in words.”
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The Argentine thanked football for making him feel like this
The north Londoners were dead and buried at half-time in the second leg at the Johan Cryuff ArenA as they trailed the Amsterdam team 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate after goals from Matthijs De Ligt and Hakim Ziyech.
However, a miraculous comeback, spearheaded by Moura, was completed deep into added time when the Brazilian slotted home a loose ball to seal an away goals success and spark amazing scenes in Amsterdam.
He had earlier netted a brace to pull Spurs level, but his third goal – scored one second after the five allotted minutes of injury time – is what truly made him a Tottenham hero.
Progression to the Champions League final continues the remarkable progress for Spurs under Pochettino, with no other manager ever guiding the north Londoners this far in Europe’s premier competition.
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Spurs lost both their Premier League matches against Liverpool this season by 2-1 scorelines, and the Reds will be heavy favourites heading into the June 1 showpiece.
Pochettino did not want to get drawn into discussing the final, however, with over three weeks to go before the two sides face off in Madrid.
“Allow me to relax a little bit, there is going to be time to talk about Liverpool,” he added.
“I want to congratulate Jurgen Klopp and all the players and Liverpool, because I think they were amazing.
“We enjoyed a lot, watching the tie against Barcelona, they are heroes too and of course it is going to be an amazing final between two English teams that for sure we are going to enjoy.”
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Mauricio Pochettino celebrates Tottenham’s stunning win over Ajax
While Moura was surely the star of the show after his treble, there were several other outstanding players for the visitors. Danny Rose and Dele Alli, in particular, were superb.
Defender Rose said: “We saw Liverpool last night. It goes to show it’s not over until it’s over.
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“Disappointed with the first leg how we started and we started like that tonight. But after the break we came out.
“The gaffer mentioned Liverpool’s display at the hotel before the match – the gaffer doesn’t mind us losing but we have to lose the right way.
“We’re lucky we’ve gone through and we look forward to the Champions League final.”
Premier League Match Report for Manchester United v Manchester City on April 24, 2019, includes all goals and incidents. Have your say on the game in the comments.
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