Lucas Puts Spurs on the Brink of Glory
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NBA | Page 5 Warriors’ title defence gets tricky aft er Durant injury Friday, May 10, 2019 FOOTBALL Ramadan 5, 1440 AH Kane hopes to be GULF TIMES fi t for Spurs’ Final against Liverpool SPORT Page 2 Lucas puts Spurs on the brink of glory AFP European glory continues to fail. London The world-record signing of Neymar for 222mn euros ($248mn) saw Lucas jet- tisoned from Paris for a fraction of that ucas Moura came to Europe fee, yet in the course of 40 minutes in dreaming of winning the Champi- Amsterdam he scored as many Champions ons League but few could imagine League semi-final goals as Neymar has in Lthe Brazilian’s chance to fulfi l his his career. ambition would arrive with Tottenham “All the credit goes to Lucas because he has aft er he was discarded by Paris Saint-Ger- made history for the club. He deserves it main. because he just has an incredible mentality Spurs will go to Madrid on June 1 to face and I think it’s a nice story of revenge for Liverpool thanks to Lucas’s second half hat- him,” said Tottenham and France captain trick that turned around a 3-0 aggregate Hugo Lloris. deficit against Ajax as the club reached the “He showed this evening that if you score a final for the first time in their history. hat-trick in these circumstances you don’t “The Champions League final is a dream do so just by chance. for me. Since I was a child I dreamed of this “He has the quality and the mentality and moment and now I live this moment,” said he can flourish with us, which is all the bet- an emotional Lucas. ter for us.” “We need to enjoy it. Look at me — it’s the Pochettino branded Lucas a “superhero” best moment in my life, my career.” but must also take much of the credit for Ajax’s wonder kids had wowed the conti- the transformation of the club over five nent with their dazzling talent in eliminat- years and his team over 45 minutes. Tottenham’s Lucas Moura celebrates scoring their ing Real Madrid and Juventus and seemed When the Argentine arrived in north third goal to complete his hat-trick with Dele Alli set to add the scalp of a jaded Tottenham to London in 2014, just qualifying for the (R) on Wednesday. that list after 135 minutes of the tie. Champions League was the target. In diff erent circumstances Lucas would Barring a final day collapse in the Premier likely not even have been on the pitch. League, next season will involve a fourth Harry Kane watched on from the sidelines consecutive campaign dining at Europe’s due to ankle ligament damage, the latest top table and they could even win it in just injury to have ravaged Mauricio Pochet- over three weeks’ time. tino’s over-worked squad — Spurs have not Pochettino’s half-time change to throw on signed a single player since Lucas’s arrival the physical presence of Fernando Llorente in January 2018. up front unsettled Ajax and the visitors’ Yet after a season of ups and downs, Spurs preyed on that weak spot, with an aerial will travel to the Spanish capital knowing bombardment. they could be on the brink of the greatest With 95 minutes come and gone, so night in the club’s history. seemed Spurs’ hopes, but one last long “Without Harry Kane many people were ball up to the Spaniard was flicked on and talking about Son (Heung-min), but today it found its way to Lucas to launch a dagger was Lucas Moura who scored three goals,” into Ajax hearts. said Pochettino, who broke down in tears “It was not simply Lucas Moura’s nerveless- after the match in Amsterdam. ness when it counted most, and his pace, “That showed that the team is more impor- skill and clinical finishing,” wrote The Times. tant than any name. When one does not “It was Moura’s utter determination to run at play, another plays.” Ajax defenders, including the revered captain Lucas’s former employers PSG would do (Matthijs) De Ligt, that gave Spurs hope.” well to remember that piece of advice as Hope that has carried the 26-year-old and their star-studded approach to try and buy his team all the way to Madrid. BOTTOMLINE Mick Schumacher says his ‘extraordinary’ father remains his greatest inspiration By Giles Richards tion of competing in Formula One. secutive championships for Ferrari be- want to see who is the best at it,” he said. take that as a lesson and try and grow from The Guardian When asked which drivers he looked tween 2000 and 2004 and Mick revealed “Trying to fi nd the limit of yourself and that.” He is currently ninth in the cham- up to on the current grid, the 20-year-old his father’s close involvement in his racing the limit of the car and sometimes to ex- pionship and is eager to use every pos- was open minded and instead chose to began when he was a child. “I was three ceed it and see the real limit. If you fi nd sible avenue open to him to improve. He ick Schumacher has said specifi cally reference his father, who re- years old. I had a go-kart that my dad had that sweet spot and are able to repeat it, it revealed that he enjoyed watching races his father Michael remains mains in recovery after a skiing accident on a leash so I would not go too quick.” is one of the best feelings. If you do a good from previous years to ascertain the best his greatest inspiration as he in 2013. “I can learn from everyone,” he Schumacher Jr began karting in 2008, lap you know it is a good lap, if you get strategies and overtaking possibilities, an Mattempts to emulate the ca- said. “There is no one person I will go to graduated to single-seaters in German that feeling it is addictive, you want more attention to detail for which his father was reer of the seven-time Formula One world and talk to and try to be as him, the one Formula 4 in 2015 and has since made and more.” Schumacher, is racing for the famous. champion. person I would want to is my dad.” steady progress. He spent two seasons in Prema team in F2 this season. He fi nished He is also using his Ferrari connection Schumacher, 20, will be racing in the He added that while it was diffi cult to F3, winning the title last year before sign- eighth and sixth in the opening two races to the best eff ect. Formula 2 series at this weekend’s Span- watch his father’s races, they were moti- ing to the Ferrari driver academy in Janu- in Bahrain but had a more diffi cult meet- “We have very close communication ish Grand Prix after joining the Ferrari vational. “It’s never easy,” he said. “What ary. Speaking in Barcelona it was clear that ing in Baku, spinning out of the fi rst race. with engineers and the drivers are very driver academy this year – the team for my dad did was extraordinary. I appreciate he shared his father’s love of, and com- “It was a mistake that was going to happen helpful too,” he said, “Seb [Vettel] and whom his father won fi ve of his world it more every day.” mitment to, the sport. “It is a passion; we someday,” he said. “I have learned from it. Charles [Leclerc] for example, they talk championships – as he pursues his ambi- Michael Schumacher won fi ve con- love doing it; we love the competition; we It won’t happen again hopefully and I will with us and give us tips.” Gulf Times 2 Friday, May 10, 2019 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT REACTION ‘The fairytale ends’: Dutch ‘All worth it’ — mourn Ajax loss AFP waves” by Tottenham. The Hague However he said that “Ajax can look back on a great Eu- ropean campaign, one of the utch media yesterday most awesome in the club’s Pochettino aft er lamented the “insane history” — and one that could ending” to Ajax’s im- scarcely have been dreamed probable Champions about at the start of the sea- DLeague campaign after Tot- son. tenham’s last minute semi- “There was nothing good fi nal win. about Ajax, just a year ago,” Newspapers sought the pos- wrote Vlietstra, with the team itives in the Amsterdam team’s having to go through qualify- years of pain return to the front rank of Eu- ing to play in the Champions ropean football after wins over League, the Dutch Eredivisie giants Juventus and Real Ma- having lost its automatic spot. In England, the phrase to do a Spurs’ was never a good thing, but that has changed drid, but were overwhelmed by The NRC newspaper said the heartbreak of the loss. that the “dream exploded in Several papers carried the the fi nal minutes” but said that iconic image of Ajax players the result should be but into a in their red and white jerseys “broader context”. stretched out in despair on the Writer Bart Hinke said that grass after Spurs’ Lucas Moura assumptions that a Dutch club sealed a last-gasp hat-trick to had nothing to expect from the win 3-2 on the night. That put Champions League “even with Spurs through on away goals the outcome that followed following a 3-3 aggregate re- Wednesday evening, can be sult.