Thu 07 May 2020, 10:51
Tottenham HotspurJermaine Jenas delivered commentary from the heart as he witnessed the amazing scenes of our Champions League semi-final triumph over Ajax a year ago.
The beauty of it all was ‘JJ’ barely had to say a word, caught up in the moment, you could just feel the emotion.
League Cup winner in 2008, UCL quarter-finalists in 2010/11, JJ played 202 times for us (25 in Europe) between 2005-2012.
Co-commentating alongside Darren Fletcher for BT Sport at the Johan Cruyff ArenA, he was left speechless as Lucas Moura scored his hat-trick goal in the sixth minute of added time to complete our footballing miracle. Trailing 3-0 on aggregate at half-time, we needed three goals to progress to the final. Lucas delivered on 55, 59 and 96 minutes, leaving everyone connected with the Club in dreamland.
Listening back to the commentary is a joy for all Spurs fans.
On Lucas’ winner, his hat-trick goal to make it 3-2 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate…
Darren Fletcher: “JJ is speechless, absolutely speechless, and so is everyone else in the stadium.”
JJ: “I can’t believe it Fletch, it’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like this. Oh my God.”
On the final whistle...
Darren Fletcher: “I’ve a co-commentator alongside me who wore the white shirt of Tottenham with pride for so long and I’ve never seen you as emotional as you are right now…”
JJ spoke to us the day after the night before, a year ago, and here’s what he had to say...
“It gets deeper when you go back over the years and the journey this Club has been on. When I first signed it was very much a conversation along the lines of ‘we want to challenge for a Champions League position’. Our team played our part to try and kick the Club on a level.
“I had that moment last night when I thought ‘wow’... the realisation of the achievement of everyone associated with the Club, above and beyond what anyone expected and seeing all the emotion, it was too much for me at the time to get my words out.”
If someone showed me that film script, I’d say ‘no, you’re lying, you made it up’ but because it’s sport it just.. it takes your breath away
What were his memories of Lucas’ hat-trick goal?
“It was so weird,” he recalled. “Our fans were in the Gods, so high up and those events, the long ball from Sissoko, the flick from Llorente, the touch from Dele, it was almost in slow-motion. The stadium just seemed to get quieter and quieter and when the ball hit the net, it was unreal.
“From Lucas Moura’s point of view, as a chance, it was so instinctive for him to stick it away. He scored three goals with his left foot, by the way. The night was so big, you can even forget that Lucas Moura has just scored a hat-trick in the semi-final of the Champions League to send the team through to the final! It’s such a huge night for the Club that you wouldn’t have it any other way, but he’s just scored a hat-trick in the second half. That’s ridiculous!
“When that third goal went in, for me, it was very much ‘this isn’t happening’. I thought Jan’s was the chance (Jan Vertonghen hit the crossbar on 87 minutes). I said in commentary that I thought we’d get a chance and it was just whether or not we’d take it. I saw Jan’s and thought that was it.
“To have one more ‘Hail Mary’ moment and put it away, you can’t write that. If someone showed me that film script, I’d say ‘no, you’re lying, you made it up’ but because it’s sport it just... it takes your breath away.”
