Tuesday afternoon gave soccer fans one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport. Liverpool stormed back in front of a wholly unglued home crowd to beat Barcelona, 4-0 (4-3 on aggregate), and secure a spot in the Champions League finals. It was a match no one will forget any time soon, and it set the bar awfully high for the two squads tasked with competing to take on Liverpool in Madrid next month.
Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur managed to meet, and possibly exceed, that bar. The pair of squads put forth efforts worthy of a competition of this stature, and by the time the dust settled in Amsterdam, Spurs walked off the pitch with a heart-stopping 3-2 win. It was tied on aggregate, but thanks to their three away goals, Tottenham moved on.
Unlike Barcelona one day before, Ajax, which entered the second leg of the tie with a 1-0 lead, managed to extend their lead. The young Dutch side, which have been the story of the tournament this year, struck first with a goal off a corner kick. Lasse Schöne whipped a ball into the box, where 19-year-old captain Matthijs de Ligt beat Hugo Lloris.
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Spurs had their moments over the remainder of the half, but for the most part, it was all Ajax. The squad pinged the ball around the pitch, beautifully picking apart the Tottenham defense. It was, at times, football at its most beautiful, with Erik ten Hag’s side reminding everyone that their run to this point has not been a fluke.
Their second goal came a bit later in the half. Ajax won the ball in the midfield, broke towards Spurs’ goal, and eventually, Dušan Tadić got a ball onto the magical left foot of Hakim Ziyech, who did the rest.
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But as they showed during their quarterfinal win against Manchester City, Spurs are not a side you can ever count out. They looked more lively from the start of the second half, and the feeling that they’d break through felt tangible from thousands of miles away from Johan Cruyff ArenA.
The man who had this prophecy come to fruition was Lucas Moura, who slipped a pair of balls past André Onana. The first game in the 55th minute, when Danny Rose sparked a counterattack, Dele Alli nutmegged Frenkie de Jong, and the Brazilian used his considerable pace to get a 1-on-1 with the keeper.
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Four minutes later, he struck again. Onana saved an attempt by Fernando Llorente, but in the ensuing chaos, Ajax couldn’t clear the ball. It fell to Lucas Moura’s feet, and once more, he delivered.
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While the most endearing aspect of Ajax is their fearlessness and eagerness to attack, that can sometimes manifest itself as naïveté in major moments. That appeared like it had the potential to be the case against an older Spurs side, one which did not relent and caused Ajax to come close to fatal errors throughout the second half. Still, both clubs had opportunities to seal a victory. Ziyech had a fantastic chance from the top of the box, and while he beat Lloris, he could not get the better of the post.
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Tottenham, meanwhile, had a pair of point blank opportunities by Jan Vertonghen denied, first by the post, then by Joël Veltman.
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It was absolutely thrilling. Ajax did everything they could to kill the match, Spurs did everything to find the one goal that would lead them to Champions League glory. Tottenham kept coming, Ajax kept withstanding wave after wave of attack, and in the match’s waning moments, the Dutch side had one foot on the plane to Madrid.
But Lucas Moura, in the match of his life, had other ideas. A desperate ball was booted up the pitch and eventually landed at the feet of Dele Alli, who took a deft touch to lay the ball off to his forward. You could hear the roar from North London from halfway around the world just seconds later.
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There are no words for the quality of matches we’ve seen over the last two days. Liverpool and Tottenham are deserving finalists, while Ajax and Barcelona experienced heartbreak the lines of which you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Now, the two British sides will face off in Madrid on June 1. They’ve played twice on the year, and Liverpool won both. The first was a 2-1 victory in September, the second a 2-1 win in March in which an own goal by Spurs’ Toby Alderweireld gave the Reds a late victory.
