When Lucas Moura wrote his name into Tottenham Hotspur folklore one year ago today, few would have predicted the club embarking on such a turbulent following 12 months.
It looked as though Mauricio Pochettino's side were finally on course to end a trophy drought which stretches back to 2008 when they reached a first Champions League final in the most dramatic fashion, setting up an all-England showdown with Liverpool, who themselves had pulled off a miraculous recovery to book their place in Madrid.
Spurs were beaten 1-0 at home by Ajax in the first leg of the semi-final and seemed destined to fall at the penultimate hurdle when goals from the Dutch outfit's inspirational 19-year-old captain Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech gave them a 2-0 lead at the Johan Cruyff ArenA just 35 minutes into the second leg.
Tottenham found themselves needing three second-half away goals to progress - a task which looked almost impossible until Lucas scored twice in the space of four minutes just before the hour mark.
Pochettino's men had already had their fill of drama in the quarter-final when they edged out domestic rivals Manchester City - with a little help from VAR - but even more remarkable twists were to follow as Lucas completed his hat-trick in the 96th-minute.
The Tottenham team and coaching staff - Pochettino included - made no attempt to disguise their euphoria at such an unlikely turnaround, completing surely the most incredible double-header of football in European Cup history.
It is a night which justifiably ranks as arguably the best in Tottenham's history, yet just one year later they find themselves looking likely to miss out on the competition next season and with a new manager in the dugout.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the 12 months which has followed that unforgettable night in Amsterdam.
DEFEAT IN FINAL
© Reuters
In truth, Tottenham's struggles began even before the win over Ajax - they had lost five of their previous six games across all competitions prior to their trip to the Netherlands including three Premier League games on the bounce.
A final-day draw with Everton ensured that they edged North London rivals Arsenal to fourth spot by a single point, but they ended the Premier League season winless in four.
By that stage most minds would have been on Liverpool and the Wanda Metropolitano as Pochettino's class of 2018-19 aimed to outshine even Bill Nicholson's side of the early 1960s by being crowned champions of Europe for a first time.
Spurs could barely have got off to a worse start in Madrid, though, with Mohamed Salah giving Liverpool the lead from the penalty spot after only two minutes.
© Reuters
From that point on the match failed to live up to expectations and Tottenham were left to rue a missed opportunity against an under-par Liverpool team, with a late strike from Divock Origi clinching a sixth European crown for the Merseysiders.
BIG-SPENDING SUMMER
Tottenham's success in 2018-19 came despite failing to sign a single player in the summer or winter transfer windows, but they spent big to add to their squad following the disappointment of Madrid.
Daniel Levy spent almost £100m on the likes of Jack Clarke, Ryan Sessegnon and Tanguy Ndombele, the latter of whom became the club's record signing at £55m.
© Reuters
None of the major summer arrivals have quite had the desired impact, though; Clarke and Sessegnon are very much ones for the future, but plenty more was expected of Ndombele, who has made just 12 Premier League starts so far and was heavily criticised by new manager Jose Mourinho before the coronavirus lockdown.
At 23 there is still plenty of time for the French midfielder to turn his Tottenham career around, but reports have already begun to link him with a move away from North London within a year of his arrival.
SLOW START TO NEW SEASON
Tottenham initially looked to have avoided any hangover from Madrid when they came from a goal down with 20 minutes remaining to beat Aston Villa on the opening day of the 2019-20 campaign.
A potential nightmare start to the season quickly turned into a near-perfect one as record buy Ndombele opened his account before star striker Harry Kane scored twice in the final four minutes to secure the three points and spare Tottenham's blushes against their newly-promoted visitors.
© Reuters
However, they won just one more game in their next seven across all competitions - results which included draws away to Manchester City and Arsenal but also a home defeat against Newcastle United and an EFL Cup exit at the hands of League Two's Colchester United
DREADFUL FIVE-GAME SPELL
That chastening penalty shootout defeat at Colchester, which came despite fielding a team including the likes of Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Lucas, was the start of a five-game spell bad enough to undermine Pochettino's position a matter of months after he took the club to the European Cup final.
Spurs showed character to beat Southampton with 10 men in their next game, but they were then humiliated at home by Bayern Munich in the Champions League, losing 7-2 in front of their own fans with former Arsenal man Serge Gnabry doing most of the damage.
The result came exactly five months after they reached the summit of European competition, showcasing just how far they had fallen in the meantime as Bayern put them to the sword in ruthless fashion.
© Reuters
Just four days after that Tottenham were beaten 3-0 by Brighton & Hove Albion - their first defeat to the Seagulls since 1983, their heaviest ever loss in the fixture and a result which was compounded by captain Hugo Lloris sustaining a sickening elbow injury which would keep him out for months.
Next up were a Watford side still winless in the Premier League and rooted to the bottom of the table, but it took an 86th-minute equaliser from Alli to rescue a point at home.
SACKING POCHETTINO, HIRING MOURINHO
A lack of silverware may ultimately be Pochettino's legacy in North London, but the progress they made under the Argentine should not be forgotten either.
It was a surprise when Daniel Levy pulled the trigger during the November international break, even accounting for their poor form in the six months since the Ajax euphoria.
© Reuters
It was even more of a surprise to see Mourinho - a man not renowned for developing existing talent at the club in the same way Pochettino had - replace him at the helm just a day after the Argentine was sacked.
Mourinho was, however, renowned as a serial winner, and his arrival produced an immediate upturn in form with Tottenham winning their first three games under the Portuguese boss - their best winning run since April.
Manchester United soon inflicted the first defeat of their former manager's reign, though, and further losses to Bayern and another one of Mourinho's ex-clubs Chelsea followed before Christmas.
INCONSISTENCY AND INJURIES MAKE FOR AN UNHAPPY NEW YEAR
© Reuters
Tottenham went on a four-game Premier League winless run either side of the New Year, picking up only two points from 12 on offer including draws against struggling pair Norwich City and Watford.
Perhaps the worst news came on New Year's Day when Tottenham not only lost to Southampton but also lost talisman Kane and Moussa Sissoko to lengthy injuries which would have kept them out for the remainder of the campaign had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.
Spurs did soon return to form, though, scoring late to beat Norwich in the reverse and then producing arguably their best result of the campaign with victory over Manchester City.
More drama followed with back-to-back late 3-2 wins over Southampton and Aston Villa respectively, booking their place in the last 16 of the FA Cup in the process.
MOURINHO'S WORST SPELL
© Reuters
Just when it looked as though Tottenham might be finding their feet under Mourinho, they embarked on a six-game winless streak which constitutes the worst run of form in the Portuguese's managerial career.
A 1-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie began the poor spell, and that was quickly followed by a loss at Chelsea three days later.
The international break failed to bring with it an improvement, with Spurs slipping to a 3-2 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the start of March, and then being knocked out of the FA Cup in front of their own fans courtesy of a penalty shootout defeat to Norwich.
Spurs did at least manage to stop the rot to some extent with a 1-1 draw at Burnley after that, but their final outing before the coronavirus shutdown was another chastening European defeat to a German club - RB Leipzig completing a 4-0 aggregate triumph with a 3-0 second-leg win.
© Reuters
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Tottenham, more than most clubs, will have been content with the timing of the coronavirus-enforced stoppage given their injury troubles and dreadful form, yet there are still plenty of question marks for them to answer when play does eventually resume.
The good news is that Kane, Sissoko, Son Heung-min and other injury concerns are likely to be fit when play returns, and a full Tottenham side remains a match for almost any team.
However, Kane's future has been the subject of growing speculation during the lockdown following his own admission that he would not stay at the club "for the sake of it" if he felt as though they were not progressing towards trophies.
© Reuters
In reality, no club is likely to meet his £200m asking price in the post-coronavirus market and so Kane seems destined to have at least another year in North London, but his comments put pressure on Spurs to start competing for trophies again.
Considering they are already out of all three cup competitions this season and sit eighth in the Premier League table, seven points adrift of the top four, it does not look likely that they will reach his desired level again any time soon.
For the same reason why few teams can afford Kane, Spurs are also unlikely to do any major business this summer, and so it is hard to see them closing the chasm which now seems to separate them from England's and Europe's best, just 12 months on from briefly catapulting themselves among the elite with that night in Amsterdam.
No Data Analysis info
