Oh my giddy aunt. Where to start on that game last night? I suppose I should have a look at what I predicted Spurs would do before the season started. I predicted we would struggle, I had us finishing sixth in the league, out in the group stage in the Champions League, and out in the fourth round in both domestic cups.
To be fair, I wasn’t that far away from it, the only reason Spurs are still fourth after an abysmal run of form is that Arsenal and Manchester United have been just as bad, if they had put a couple of wins together in the last month we would be sixth. The FA Cup was spot on, out in the fourth round. And in the Champions League we were eleven minutes away from going out after losing the first two group games and drawing the third.
Being 1-0 down after the first leg at home meant I didn’t have high expectations for the second leg away at Ajax. Ajax have been playing some wonderful football this season and have beaten Real Madrid and Juventus so far this year. Spurs have been playing as if they were blind for the last two months and have lost seven away games on the bounce.
It was a big mountain to climb, but the game the previous night showed that pretty much anything can happen, as Liverpool overcame a 3-0 first leg deficit against Barcelona with a stunning 4-0 victory.
It didn’t start well, Spurs were a goal down within five minutes and it seemed nothing would go right when Son hit the post and the ball ran across the open goal area out of reach of any Spurs player. We were creating chances but doing nothing with them, and our defence was looking creaky as the Ajax players attacked with pace and poise, threatening to score almost any time they crossed the halfway line.
And then they did, Trippier at fault again. It’s difficult to say whether it is just the weariness from last summer’s world cup catching up with him (and numerous other players), that he’s phoning it in because he now believes the hype generated about him from the world cup and the start of the season, or he’s just actually shit, but he has been a liability in the last couple of months. Spurs were down 2-0 five minutes before half time and 3-0 on aggregate. It seemed we were dead and buried.
It looked like there was going to be another semi-final defeat, the second of the season, having gone out on penalties in the Carabao cup after the rules were changed this season to scrap the away goals rule, something that we would have won on if still in place, and something that allowed us to overcome Manchester City in the Champions League quarter finals (well, along with VAR). After all, semi-final defeats are becoming Spurs’ speciality.
Then as if by magic it all started to change. A goal appeared from nowhere. Deli Alli ran at the defence, but it seemed he had pushed the ball too far ahead of himself, but Lucas Moura put on the afterburners, ran on the the ball and slotted it into the corner.
Four minutes later and it looked as if the miracle could be on. Trippier finally did something useful and crossed a great ball to Llorente who must score, only for the Ajax keeper to pull off two stunning saves. But the ball bounced loose and Moura picked it up, danced around with quick feet, spun and shot through a gap in the Ajax defence that didn’t seem to be there and it was now 2-2 on the night with still half an hour to play.
Could we really do this?
Ajax looked nervy now in defence, and Spurs piled forward at every opportunity trying to get that third goal which would be enough to put them through to the final on the away goals rule. In doing so they were leaving themselves open to the counter attack and they nearly paid the price on several occasions, Lloris made a couple of decent saves, Ajax struck the post, and a chance was put wide when it seemed it was easier to hit the target. Nervous times all round.
Then we had a corner with less than five minutes of normal time left. Vertonghen rose and sent a powerful header against the bar. It rebounded to him and his follow up shot was cleared off the line. Was that the moment? Would we get another chance?
Five minutes of extra time was shown and three minutes into we get another corner, only for Llorente’s header to sail harmlessly over the bar. That was surely the last chance gone. Ajax’s keeper got booked for time wasting as he took 41 seconds to take the resulting goal kick.
As the ball went up the pitch and made its way to Lloris at the other end there was only 10 seconds of the extra time left. A pass out to a defender, and a hoof up towards Llorente who knocked it down into the path of Alli. He poked it through into a gap that was surely too close to the two Ajax defenders. But Moura put the afterburners on again and got his toe to the ball first and his shot left his boot with just two seconds left. Time seemed to stand still as the ball rolled under the despairing dive of the Ajax keeper and into the corner of the net.
Cue absolute fucking scenes. Gutted Ajax players dropped to the turf all over the pitch. A huge pile of Spurs players, substitutes, management and anyone else connected with the club that could make to the corner flag appeared.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way about any goal I’ve seen in my life. A sense of amazement, joy, disbelief, happiness, triumph, ecstasy and “did that really happen” all mixed together. I’m still not sure it’s fully sunk in just how immense that was.
It took two minutes for the restart to happen, and there would be at least another thirty seconds to play due to the time added on for time wasting in extra time when Ajax did kick off. Enough time to have kittens, and for those kittens to have kittens of their own as Ajax got the ball into the Spurs box twice, but then the ball broke to Sissoko and off he went running with the ball all the way up the pitch (as he had done several times in this Champions League run – thought I’m still not convinced he was worth £30 million) only to be fouled near the Ajax box. Instead of a free kick the ref blew the full time whistle and it was all over.
If I had been sat there watching it by myself I would have been of the opinion that I’d dreamt the whole thing. But there were other witnesses. It really did happen. Spurs have made it to the Champions League final for the first time. Something I never thought I would see in my lifetime.
We may well have the worst record of any club to have reached a Champions League Final. We may have rode our luck, we have been outplayed by Barcelona, Manchester City and Ajax. But, somehow, we have managed to pull out performances and results when it has mattered most and now we are going to be playing Liverpool in Madrid on the 1st June.
Where in my realistic mode, there is more than a good chance that we will live up to the tag of underdogs, and the one of perennial bottlers and lose without a whimper.
But damn, what a ride.