Lucas Moura: “It was like an explosion inside me”

A year on, and Lucas Moura talks about that moment like it was yesterday. Like all Spurs fans, he’ll never forget it.

Amsterdam, 10.55pm local time, last seconds of the Champions League semi-final, second leg. Moussa Sissoko clips the ball forward, Fernando Llorente wins it, Dele touches it into Lucas’ path and... you know the rest.

“I cannot explain to you the feelings of that moment,” said the popular Brazilian, reflecting this week on his dramatic late winner against Ajax, and therefore completing a hat-trick to take us into the Champions League Final in Madrid.

“I did not know how to celebrate or what to do. I jumped and I slid. It was crazy because even if I was sure that we would score and qualify, after I saw the ball inside the net, it was like a bomb inside of me. An explosion. Boom!”

What on earth goes through your mind at that moment? Can you even imagine it? Scoring a second half hat-trick to turn around a 2-0 deficit on the night, 3-0 on aggregate, to go through to the biggest club game in world football? With the winner in the last seconds?

And yet there we were, that night at the Johan Cruyff Arena, one year ago today - 8 May, 2019.

As we all know, Lucas was in tears, buried under a pile of joyous team-mates. “Seeing everyone celebrating, jumping and all the fans and at the same time, thinking about my wife at home, my family in Brazil, thinking about my friends, thinking about everything that I had when I was young, in my childhood, I could only cry and celebrate,” said Lucas.

“There were a lot of things to think about... I could not wait to finish the game and talk to my wife and my parents, my brothers and to say that we would play in the Champions League Final. It was a dream.”

Look out for more from Lucas today on tottenhamhotspur.com and our social channels - including a re-run of that night in Amsterdam this evening.