Sometimes the universe provides the most amazing coincidences. Six years ago today, Tottenham Hotspur went to Amsterdam down a goal to play one of the best Ajax teams in decades for an opportunity to play in a Champions League final in Madrid.
We all remember that match — Lucas Moura scored a hat trick including the decisive winner with the last kick of the game to give Spurs a 3-2 win that sent them to Madrid on away goals. If you were a Tottenham Hotspur fan on that day, it was probably the greatest day of your fandom, a match that will be viewed as one of the biggest and most dramatic wins in club history.
A lot has happened in the six years following the Miracle in Amsterdam, most of it not very good. But now, on the sixth anniversary of that day, Tottenham find themselves back in the second leg of a major European Cup semifinal with a chance to progress to the final, likely against another Premier League opponent, with a solid performance.
Once again, it’s an away match, this time in northern Norway against Bodø/Glimt, a small team from a lower league that has played well to get here and might even be considered favorites at home. And once again, prophetically, Spurs are playing in green.
Look, I don’t believe in omens. This time, Tottenham have a two goal lead heading into tonight’s critical fixture rather than a one goal deficit. And unlike in Amsterdam, Tottenham’s Lucas (Bergvall) is injured and can’t provide another hat trick. There’s a lot that could go wrong for Spurs in this match — Bodø/Glimt are a good team that deserve to be in the Europa League semifinals, they’re playing at home on a artificial turf field that they know intimately, and they have used that advantage to amass an impressive series of wins over some big names in European football in this competition.
But on the other hand — my god. Just look at the synchronicity at play here! It’s eerie. And while I think most Spurs fans would rather ditch all of the high drama for an easy win at the Aspmyra Stadion, tonight’s match and all of its parallels provide an opportunity, if nothing else, for Spurs fans to reminisce about one of the high points in the last 30 years.
And considering how the Champions League final worked out, maybe, just maybe, there are just enough changes to suggest a different outcome this time around.