Lucas Moura “deserves a statue” after his hat-trick took Tottenham into an all-English Champions League final, says team-mate Christian Eriksen.
Ajax led 3-0 on aggregate – but Moura’s goals, including a 96th-minute winner, took Tottenham through on away goals b to face Liverpool on 1 June.
Moura himself called it “the best moment of my career”.
Eriksen said: “It was a ridiculous game; we were really far down, we tried to fight back, we were just lucky.”
The Danish playmaker added: “We had to fight. We are relieved.
“Today it was non-tactical, more of a fight and heart performance, heart and Lucas Moura – he’s how we won the game.
“He deserves it, it has been a rollercoaster of a season, for him to get us in the final, I hope he gets a statue in England after this, we are blown away.
Mauricio Pochettino, who has been Tottenham’s manager since 2014, was in tears at the final whistle – and again during an emotional post-match interview on BT Sport.
He said: “The emotion is amazing, thank you to football. My players are heroes – in the last year I was telling everyone this group are heroes – in the second half they were amazing.
“Thank you to everyone who has believed in us. To describe this in words is difficult.
“They are all heroes but [Lucas Moura] was a superhero. It’s difficult to compete at this level. I am so grateful to be a coach: to be in football and to live this type of football.
“We showed we love the sport and football. Today was amazing. It was a joy to watch this kind of game.”
