{"id":104522,"date":"2019-05-09T06:41:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T13:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=104522"},"modified":"2019-05-09T06:41:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T13:41:02","slug":"ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Ajax Heartache as Spurs Make Champions League Final with Epic, Last-Second Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> in the most amazing Champions League semifinal most of us have ever seen!\u201d marveled BT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher, as Spurs celebrated an improbable, last-second victory against Ajax on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\"Champions
Domino Effect: Ajax\u2019s young players drop to the ground on hearing the final whistle, having been one second away from reaching a Champions League final. Instead, Spurs will meet Liverpool in Madrid on June 1. (Image: BT Sport)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He forgot to add \u201csince yesterday.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Another night, another epic game of Champions League soccer, as Spurs turned around an impossible, odds-defying situation to snatch a winner in the final second of stoppage time, having been three goals down on aggregate at half time.<\/p>\n

It was heartbreak for Ajax, a dynamic young team whose run in soccer\u2019s most elite competition has delighted and excited.<\/p>\n

Knife Edge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because of the away-goals rule, the tie was balanced on a knife edge since the since the 59th<\/sup> minute, when Spurs winger Lucas Moura scored his second goal in the space of six minutes — six minutes that saved Spurs\u2019 bacon.<\/p>\n

Having beaten 1-0 in North London a week ago, Ajax carried a precious away goal into the home leg in Amsterdam, and two first-half goals for the home side made Spurs\u2019 task seemingly impossible.<\/p>\n

\n

But with the score at 2-2 on the night, Spurs knew that a goal would see them through to the final with more away goals scored, but as it stood Ajax would progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With seconds ticking down on the clock, Spurs pumped a long ball upfield towards the edge of the Ajax penalty area. \u00c9rik Lamela muscled the ball to Deli Ali, who threaded it through to Moura.<\/p>\n

The ball hit the back of the net with 5:01 showing on the clock, after five minutes of stoppage time. Fortunately for Spurs, this wasn\u2019t basketball. Soccer players play to the referee\u2019s whistle and not the clock.<\/p>\n

On finally hearing that whistle, Ajax players dropped like dominoes.<\/p>\n

Pochettino Weeps<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“The emotion is amazing, thank you to football. Thank you, football — this type of emotion without football is not possible,\u201d Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino told BT Sport, having openly wept with joy on the pitch. “Thank you to everyone who has believed in us. To describe this in words is difficult.”<\/p>\n

The bookies certainly didn\u2019t believe in Spurs, which was 4\/1 to turn the tie around before yesterday\u2019s game, although those odds had drifted to 20\/1 by half time.<\/p>\n

The North London side will once again be the underdog when it faces Liverpool in Madrid in the final on June 1 — the first all-English Champions League final since 2011. Oddsmakers have Spurs at just over 3\/1 to lift the trophy, while Liverpool is 6\/11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur in the most amazing Champions League semifinal most of us have ever seen!\u201d marveled BT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher, as Spurs celebrated an improbable, last-second victory against Ajax on Wednesday night. He forgot to add \u201csince yesterday.\u201d Another night, another epic game of Champions League soccer, as Spurs turned around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":104523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAjax Heartache as Spurs Make Champions League Final<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tottenham Hotspur versus Ajax Champions League semifinal proved to be just as dramatic as Liverpool\u2019s unlikely win against Barcelona.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ajax Heartache as Spurs Make Champions League Final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tottenham Hotspur versus Ajax Champions League semifinal proved to be just as dramatic as Liverpool\u2019s unlikely win against Barcelona.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-09T13:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ajax.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1243\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"653\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/\",\"name\":\"Ajax Heartache as Spurs Make Champions League Final\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ajax.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-09T13:41:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-09T13:41:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Tottenham Hotspur versus Ajax Champions League semifinal proved to be just as dramatic as Liverpool\u2019s unlikely win against Barcelona.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ajax-heartache-as-spurs-make-champions-league-final\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ajax.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/ajax.jpg\",\"width\":1243,\"height\":653,\"caption\":\"Ajax\u2019s young players drop like dominoes on hearing the final whistle, having been one second away from reaching a Champions League final. 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