Tottenham Hotspur attacker Lucas Moura has been speaking about the major moments of his career in a new documentary.
The 30-year-old is the subject of 'Me: Lucas Moura' on the north London club's SpursPlay platform, with the documentary makers visiting where he grew up in Sao Paulo, with extensive interviews with his family and former coaches as he became a teenage sensation in Brazil before turning to his move to PSG, then Spurs and that now famous Champions League semi-final second leg at Ajax.
The Brazilian was having a tough time at PSG in France, struggling for game time, when Tottenham made their move to sign him in January 2018. In the documentary Lucas explained the only demand he made about the move and also the players who helped him settle in at Hotspur Way.
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"I only said that I wanted it to be definitive, not a loan. I was in Paris for five years and I felt that cycle was over. I wanted to go elsewhere," he said. "I knew that with dedication and work, things were going to happen in a good way. Without a doubt I was super motivated to turn my career around.
"When I got here, [Moussa] Sissoko helped me a lot, [Serge] Aurier as well, I already knew him from PSG. Eric Dier also because he spoke Portuguese, and then [later] there were the Brazilians. Carlos Vinicius, then Emerson arrived here. It's normal to get along with Brazilians, we can understand each other. But man, I get along with everyone."
When talk turns to that night in Amsterdam and Lucas' remarkable hat-trick to turn around a tie Ajax were 3-0 up in in the most dramatic of circumstances, the Spurs star gets emotional.
"I have to talk about that match. That match was....(cries). I have held my tears back through the whole interview. That match was sensational. That day was a gift from God because I remember the period I had in PSG before. That match made up for all the difficult times, everything I went through," he said.
"I remember [Mauricio] Pochettino saying in the locker room 'We need to score one goal. If we do it, we're back in the game'. Then we started the second half really well. They were not able to play like they used to. I scored the first goal in the 55th minute. 59th and the second comes. 'We're gonna do it' I thought then. We had done the hardest bit, only one more goal.
"Then in the last seconds I thought that it would be the last play of the game, so I went closer to the goal. Then Dele Alli flicked a back-heel pass. At that moment I thought 'I have to shoot, it doesn't matter what happens'.
"I shot and when I saw the ball in the net, I couldn't believe it. Explosion. I didn't even know what to do. If I would jump or if I would just slide on the grass, if I would cry. It was totally crazy. Then I saw all the guys from the bench and the stands invading the pitch."
That dramatic third goal and the celebrations that followed had unintended consequences back home as his five-months pregnant wife Larissa began to feel some contractions amid the excitement. Thankfully that did not lead to anything more concerning but somehow Lucas had just felt at the time that he had to call his partner.
"At the end of the game in the middle of all the celebrations I was thinking 'I have to call Larissa'. So when we all got to the locker room, in the middle of all the celebrations, I said 'I have to call Lari'," he remembered. "So I ran away for a bit and called her. She had the face like this and was crying a lot. 'Relax or Pedrinho is going to be born early' I said. 'Hold it'.
"I was very proud of that moment and what I was able to provide to my family, to my wife, to my children that are going to see this video one day. To my family in Brazil and everyone that roots for me. From the place I was raised in, Jardim Miriam. So many people without hope there and I was able to get this far. To show them that it's possible. When you fight and you believe in it, it's possible.
"Man, one day, (cries) one day made it all worth it. I have no words to explain."
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