Moura hat-trick flattens Ajax to put Tottenham into Champions League final

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Soccer Football - Champions League Semi Final Second Leg - Ajax Amsterdam v Tottenham Hotspur - Johan Cruijff Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands - May 8, 2019 Tottenham's Lucas Moura celebrates scoring their third goal to complete his hat-trick Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs

Lucas Moura conjured the second Champions League miracle in 24 hours with a last-gasp winner to complete his hat-trick and a 3-2 win to send Tottenham Hotspur past a shattered Ajax Amsterdam into the final on away goals on Wednesday.

A day after Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-0 to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit, Tottenham came back from the dead after Ajax had looked certain to reach their first final for 23 years.

Ajax skipper Matthijs de Ligt’s fifth-minute header and a superb 35th minute effort by Hakim Ziyech put Ajax 3-0 ahead on aggregate by halftime at a raucous Johan Cruyff Arena.

But Tottenham were transformed after the break as they became the eighth English club to reach the European Cup final, where they will face Liverpool in Madrid on June 1.

With veteran Spanish striker Fernando Llorente on as a second-half substitute, Tottenham refused to lay down and when Moura scored in the 55th minute the impossible began to seem possible for the north London club.