Spurs opinion: 25 photos that captured Tottenham’s 2018-19 season
It could have been a great season for Tottenham had we just got the rub of the green on Saturday.
Spurs lost to Liverpool in the Champions League final, however, the journey to Madrid was full of crazy twists and turns.
Tottenham ended the season by just about staying in the top four. Most of our senior players came back from a long and tiring World Cup and also had to deal with several injuries throughout the campaign.
There were no signings for Mauricio Pochettino to deal with, however, we still did well in the Premier League, and the Champions League journey was memorable.
Old Trafford crumbling
Manchester United didn’t have a great season to talk about, and things started poorly for them under Jose Mourinho.
Lucas Moura scored a brace in the 3-0 win over the Red Devils and proved that even without signings, we would be a force this season.
Erik Lamela might not have had much to remember from another injury-blighted season, but he did get the only goal of the game when we beat West Ham at the London Stadium.
Champions League journey begins
Tottenham lost their first two Champions League group games before PSV fought back to earn a point in the Netherlands.
Spurs had to win their next game and things weren’t going well but Harry Kane came up with the important goal in the 89th minute to defeat PSV in London.
Juan Foyth got several chances to impress this season due to injuries to our defenders, and the Argentine had one great moment as he scored the only goal of the game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
One of the stars from the campaign was Son Heung-min. The South Korean bagged some crucial goals despite leaving for an international tournament midway through the campaign.
The South Korean scored a blinder against Chelsea at Wembley, which possibly was the goal of the season for Spurs.
Late goals continue for Spurs
Tottenham’s season seemed to have ‘late goals’ written all over it, and that continued as Christian Eriksen scored a late winner against Inter Milan to keep our Champions League hopes alive.
The next big moment came at the Nou Camp as Lucas Moura levelled for us against Barcelona, and that was enough to take us into the knockout rounds.
Spurs were being held for a point against Burnley a few days later but the Dane stepped up again to score in stoppage time to hand us three points in the Premier League.
Spurs banging the goals in
Tottenham were in a purple patch for a while during the festive period as we scored six past Everton at Goodison Park.
We then scored five past Bournemouth at Wembley and tried to keep pace with the top two, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Harry Winks was another star who had an injury-plagued season but he had one great moment to savour. Spurs were 1-1 against Fulham until Winks, possibly the smallest player on the field, ran in to head the winner.
The late goals kept on coming, with Fernando Llorente bagging one against Watford after Son had equalised.
The South Korean then got the only goal of the game against a resolute Newcastle, and that was another late goal to add to the tally.
Champions League knockout drama
Borussia Dortmund were our opponents in the first knockout round of the Champions League, and we easily defeated the Bundesliga giants 3-0, with Jan Vertonghen scoring a great goal.
Our league form had taken a dip by then and we needed Hugo Lloris to come up big and save a penalty against Arsenal, thus rescuing a point for us.
Harry Kane was still doing his bit for the team and scored the only goal of the game against Dortmund in the Signal Iduna Park.
New beginnings at our new home
Our stadium was expected to open in September but there were several delays. However, the new stadium was ready this season as Spurs defeated Palace to begin a new era.
A few days later, we played Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and Son got the winner in the first leg.
We then faced City for the second leg at the Etihad, in what was the best game of the season, at that time.
The game was topsy turvy before Llorente scored our third goal to make it 4-3 on aggregate. The goal was checked by VAR but given.
We were going through to the semis on aggregate before Raheem Sterling thought he had scored in the final minute.
City’s players and Pep Guardiola were jubilant but all that came crashing down as VAR found Sergio Aguero to be marginally offside as the Spanish manager collapsed to the ground.
The Spurs players celebrated wildly after the final whistle, and there was more drama set to come in the next round.
Moura magic in Amsterdam
Moura had another big game for us as we came back from 3-0 down on aggregate in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
The Brazilian scored a second-half hat-trick to take us to the final, with the last goal coming just seconds before the final whistle.
The Tottenham players and even Mauricio Pochettino became emotional after the win as we were set to play in our biggest European game in decades.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned with Moussa Sissoko giving away a handball early in the final.
Mohamed Salah scored the penalty before Divock Origi got the second of the game despite us trying to get the equaliser.
It was a disappointing end to the season but Pochettino and the players would have gained a lot of experience from the Champions League journey.
Read more Tottenham news, click here – Latest Spurs news
Reaching the final without any new signings is a credit to the entire staff at the club, and we should come back stronger in the coming campaign with a few new faces.
