Tottenham Hotspur are into the Champions League final after Lucas Moura’s hat-trick stunned Eredivisie leaders Ajax in Amsterdam.
Martin Jol has hailed Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to replace Victor Wanyama with Fernando Llorente midway through Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League semi-final second leg away at Ajax, while speaking to talkSPORT (9 May, 9:00am).
One day after Liverpool turned around a three-goal deficit to stun Barcelona at Anfield, Spurs pulled off their own act of escapology in front of a vociferous Amsterdam Arena crowd.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Ajax appeared to put the tie to bed with two more goals on home soil before Lucas Moura inspired a remarkable second half turnaround.
The Brazilian scored a scarcely-believable hat-trick, including a 96th minute winner, to fire Spurs into the Champions League final for the first time.
But Jol, who coached both Ajax and Spurs in a long managerial career, believes Pochettino’s decision to replace struggling midfielder Wanyama with veteran targetman Llorente at the interval was a real turning point.
“(Wanyama) didn’t look like he was in great shape, didn’t have much rhythm. You could tell he was out for a few months,” Jol said. “Llorente, they couldn’t handle him.”
Llorente has plenty of critics but his physicality and aerial presence caused Ajax’s defence no end of problems throughout both legs, proving once and for all that Tottenham do carry an attacking threat without their talisman Harry Kane.
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