Lucas Moura has scored three second-half goals to produce one of the most famous victories in Tottenham Hotspur's history as they recovered from 3-0 down on aggregate to beat Ajax 3-3 on away goals and progress through to their first Champions League final.
The Dutch side cruised into a 2-0 lead in the first half of the second leg, adding to their 1-0 advantage from the first leg, only for Lucas to score three times in an incredible second half.
The third of Lucas's goals arrived in the sixth minute of added time, completing yet another remarkable turnaround in the competition, 24 hours after Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate.
It sets up an all-English final between Spurs and Liverpool in Madrid on June 1, while Arsenal and Chelsea are on course to contest the Europa League final later this month.
© Reuters
Ajax were dealt a blow shortly before kickoff as key attacker David Neres pulled up in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Kasper Dolberg, forcing Erik ten Hag to tweak his formation slightly.
That setback clearly did not faze the hosts as they tested Hugo Lloris through a Dusan Tadic shot four minutes in and took the lead a minute later from the resulting corner - Matthijs de Ligt getting away from Kieran Trippier and then outjumping Dele Alli to head the ball home.
Tottenham initially responded well to that early goal as Son Heung-min hit the post with the angle against him, before testing Andre Onana with a shot from inside the box.
© Reuters
Christian Eriksen was then denied by Onana 60 seconds later to equal the number of on-target attempts Spurs managed in the entire first leg.
Spurs did not manage a single effort of any sort in the final 15 minutes of the first half, however, and Ajax made the most of their one big opportunity as Hakim Ziyech sent his shot spinning away from Lloris into the far corner once teed up by Tadic 15 yards from goal.
No English side had ever come from at least two goals down at half time to win a Champions League match, while Ajax had never lost a Champions League tie from a winning position, but both of those stats came to an end in a half that nobody predicted.
Spurs gave themselves a little hope 10 minutes into the second half, with the introduction of Fernando Llorente for Victor Wanyama at half time giving them a different option up top.
© Reuters
Ajax dropped off, Alli carried the ball through the middle and Lucas took over just inside the box by sending the ball out of Onana's reach into the bottom corner.
Just 204 seconds later Lucas had a second as he kept his composure to pick out the bottom corner following a mix up between Lasse Schone and Onana, who produced a point-blank save to deny Llorente in the build-up.
Ziyech sent a shot inches wide in a carbon copy of his earlier goal and Lucas's shot was blocked by De Ligt in front of goal as the match opened up.
© Reuters
With 15 minutes of the tight tie remaining, Ziyech struck the post from the edge of the box, setting up what was an incredible conclusion.
The Tottenham dream looked to be over when Jan Vertonghen headed against the crossbar and was denied on the line by Joel Veltman from the rebound.
In the sixth minute of added time, though, Lucas turned in the box and picked out the bottom corner to complete his hat-trick and send Tottenham through to the final.
AJAX (4-2-3-1): Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Blind, Tagliafico; Schone (Veltman 60'), De Jong; Tadic, Van de Beek (Magallan 90'), Ziyech; Dolberg (Sinkgraven 67')
TOTTENHAM (4-3-1-2): Lloris; Trippier (Lamela 81'), Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose (Davies 82'); Wanyama (Llorente 46'), Sissoko, Alli; Eriksen; Lucas, Son
No Data Analysis info
Germany
Switzerland
Hungary
Scotland
Spain
Italy
Croatia
Albania
England
Denmark
Slovenia
Serbia
Austria
France
Netherlands
Poland
Romania
Belgium
Slovakia
Ukraine
Portugal
Turkey
Georgia
Czech Republic
