Former Newcastle stars Gini Wijnaldum and Moussa Sissoko will now meet in this year’s Champions League final after Liverpool and Tottenham both secured astonishing semi-final comebacks this week.
Both Premier League teams had been well beaten in their first leg fixtures, with Liverpool losing 3-0 to Barca and Tottenham 1-0 to Ajax.
Liverpool’s situation had looked particular dire, as their only hope of reaching the final was to score four goals in the second leg.
But against all odds, Jurgen Klopp’s men pulled it off, with Gini Wijnaldum one of the heroes on Tuesday night.
Coming on as a second half substitution with the score at 1-0, Wijnaldum changed the game for the Reds by scoring two vital goals in just two minutes.
Liverpool would go on to embarrass Barcelona 4-0, and secure a second consecutive Champions League final.
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And just 24 hours later, Tottenham repeated the miracle.
Spurs’ second leg against Ajax got off to a terrible start after they conceded two goals in the first half, making the score 3-0 on aggregate.
Just like Liverpool, Mauricio Pochettino’s men suddenly found themselves needing three goals with just 45 minutes left to play.
Cue Lucas Moura, whose subsequent hat-trick and last minute winner shocked Ajax, Tottenham and the whole footballing world.
Completely unexpected at the start of the week, Moussa Sissoko will now face Wijnaldum in the final.
The situation has left a lot of Toon supporters bemused, as the pair were the midfield core of Steve McClaren’s side in the 2015/2016 relegation season.
Both were accused of going missing in that campaign, and some fans even made them scapegoats for the Toon’s drop.
But their triumphs this week have caused many fans to re-evaluate things.
And unsurprisingly, it hasn’t taken long for supporters to reach a consensus on what went wrong.
Newcastle fans react to Sissoko vs Wijnaldum CL final
https://twitter.com/TomBenbow/status/1126245473973669889
