00:00As they attacked the ball, the players smashed into each other and he hit the ground clutching
00:04at his face. The medics rushed in, they cleaned up the blood, they patched him up and they sent
00:09him back onto the field. But only 40 seconds after Jan Vertonghen had stumbled back onto the pitch,
00:14it was obvious that there was something much more serious going on underneath the damage that was
00:19visible on the surface. Vertonghen wandered off to the sideline collapsing into his manager's arms
00:25and he began dry retching. He was taken away for a proper medical evaluation. But only a week later,
00:31for Tottenham Hotspur's second leg of the semi-final match against Ajax, there he was,
00:35back out on the field again, wearing a protective face mask to shield his injuries. It did seem a
00:41little crazy to see him back out on the field, but he'd apparently been cleared to play by the
00:46neurologist. And Vertonghen knew that this match was far too important for him to just sit and watch
00:52from the sideline. After all, with the first leg of the semi-final against Ajax being lost 1-0,
00:58Tottenham needed two goals to advance to the Champions League final for the first time in
01:02the club's history. And Vertonghen felt like this was the year that they were finally going to make
01:07it happen. That is, of course, as long as Vertonghen's defence could hold off any attacks
01:12from Ajax. But only five minutes into the first half, the cracks in Tottenham's weakened defence
01:17started to show. Ajax scored the first goal of the game, bringing the total aggregate score to 2-0.
01:23And towards the end of the first half, they scored again, making the aggregate 3-0. As they walked
01:28off the field at half-time, Ajax was feeling confident that they had secured their spot in
01:33the final. But ten minutes into the second half, Tottenham made it clear that they weren't ready to
01:38give up just yet. And only a few minutes after that, taking advantage of a chaotic mess in the box,
01:47Lucas Morris stole the ball away and struck again, bringing the aggregate score to 3-2.
01:52Tottenham were again one goal behind. They'd managed to claw their way right back to where
01:57they were at the start of the match. Although, not exactly. Because the game was being played at
02:02Ajax's home ground, meaning that the two goals Tottenham had were away goals. And in the Champions
02:08League in 2019, if an aggregate score during a knockout stage ended in a tie, the team with the
02:14most away goals advances to the next round. Which meant Tottenham needed just one more goal. However,
02:21as the game entered the final five minutes of added time, Tottenham just couldn't make it happen.
02:26After a missed opportunity and only one minute of play left, Ajax's goalkeeper took his sweet time
02:31in collecting the ball in an effort to eat into Tottenham's vital last seconds of hope,
02:36earning himself a yellow card for time-wasting. Tottenham's fans watched in the stadium and at
02:41home as the final seconds of added time ticked by on the on-screen clock. But as the referee prepared
02:46to blow the final whistle, Tottenham Hotspur launched one final last-ditch effort.
02:52Here's Lucas Moura,
02:53Oh, they've done it!
02:54With the last kick of the game, Tottenham Hotspur are heading to the Champions League final!
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