Lucas Moura has looked back on some key moments during his time at Tottenham Hotspur, including an impromptu speech he delivered for the club's U21s this month.
The 30-year-old will leave the club at the end of this season after Spurs decided not to take an option up by the end of last year to extend his contract by another 12 months. The Brazilian waved an emotional farewell at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday and will now head to Leeds with the team this Sunday for his final matchday in a Spurs shirt.
Lucas has enjoyed some big moments in a Spurs shirt, not least that dramatic night in Amsterdam when he sealed a hat-trick in the final moments to send Tottenham through to the Champions League final at Ajax's expense in 2019.
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"I will try to speak and I will try to hold my tears. The experience that I had here along these five years - a lot of good games, good moments - I can say that I am very, very grateful because it was a pleasure to play here," he said in an interview in Saturday's matchday programme.
"That game against Ajax of course is the best moment in my career so far. It was unbelievable - three goals, a semi-final, the last goal in the last seconds with my left foot. I don’t know how to explain this. In football we play for this kind of moment and I will keep this in my heart for my whole life.
"That 2018/19 season was brilliant - I think I scored 10 goals in the Premier League. I've always said that I'm not a striker, I'm not a number nine, I'm not a killer like Harry Kane, but I scored 10 goals in the Premier League, five goals in the Champions League and of course that semi-final - it was brilliant, amazing, my best season here in terms of numbers and then the Champions League Final itself. That season, the experiences that I had, I will never forget. I will show the videos to my kids in the future. It was very, very special."
When asked what it meant to have given so many Spurs fans one of the greatest moments in their recent memory the tears began to roll.
"This question is very hard to answer," he said before addressing the fans directly. "I have enjoyed every day, every moment here. The team-mates, the friends that I've made, the fans playing in our stadium. It was a gift and I will miss it a lot it will be difficult. I don’t want to think about my last day here, but the feeling is that I gave everything. If I have just one word to talk about it, it's special.
"Five years with you, I don’t have words to thank you for the support, for the affection. I just need to say thank you. I will keep you in my heart forever. I love Spurs, it was a great adventure to play for you and you can be sure that every time that I was on the pitch I tried to make you happy. I tried my best, I gave 100 per cent every time to show to you my passion, how I love Spurs, how I love to play football and it was amazing to play for you. Thank you. I will keep supporting you. I will be Spurs forever."
One of the biggest debates that has raged among the supporters since that lost final against Liverpool in Madrid is whether Lucas should have started that night instead of Harry Kane, who was coming back from two months out injured.
"That was a bit of a mix of emotions," admitted the Brazilian four years on. "Of course, I wanted to play, to start, but I was so focused on winning the game and lifting the trophy that I didn’t let anything affect me, so when I came on I just tried my best to help the team to win that game. Of course, it was a bad feeling at the end, I cried a lot because I was so eager to win - I wanted to win, of course, as everyone did - but [not starting], it didn’t affect me.
"I'm so proud of that [runners-up] medal because to play a Champions League Final is not for everyone. A lot of people want just to play in the Champions League but I could play in the Champions League Final, so even though we lost that game, I’m so, so proud of the campaign that we had."
While Spurs fans will remember Lucas for his Champions League exploits, less of them will know what an impact he has made among the young players in the club's development side this season. As an overage player he turned out for the U21s in four games and scored three goals and travelled with them to Blackburn for one game to add some away day experience.
Ultimately, with plenty of extenuating circumstances, the U21s were relegated as the second bottom side in Premier League 2 after the final game of their campaign, despite winning it 1-0 against West Ham with Lucas playing the full 90 minutes to try to help them out.
In the dressing room after the match, having sat on the floor for a few minutes of contemplation, Lucas rose and delivered a spontaneous speech in his kit to the distraught youngsters. It has been described by those older heads in the room as one of the most powerful speeches those young players would have ever heard as the former Brazil international spoke of his love for Spurs and urged them to make the most of their opportunity with the club.
"I grew up as a man here at Spurs - I had my second son, I made more friends and of course the experience to play with the U21s was good because it reminded me of the time that I was in Sao Paulo and I played with academy players," Lucas said afterwards.
"Playing with them and trying to help them was a good experience for me, I enjoyed it a lot. I love football, this is my passion - it doesn't matter the game, it doesn't matter the competition, the most important thing for me is to enjoy the game and to see the kids play.
"I could feel that they were a bit excited to play with me, so it was very good for me and it helped me a lot as well. I'm 30-years-old now and I've learned a lot of things here. I am a better person now, a father, a husband and I've lived great moments here at Spurs. I'm so grateful for this."
Lucas' previous two final Premier League appearances before Saturday's defeat to Brentford brought painful moments for him on Merseyside with a red card at Everton and then a misplaced pass to hand Liverpool a late winner.
The Brazilian admits he felt awful after both but will look back on the positives of his time in north London.
"In football and in life, we have good and bad moments — the most important thing is to be strong mentally," he said. "This was not my best season because I had a few problems with injury and I couldn't help the team as I wanted.
"The last two games that I played of course were difficult. I was so excited to play again and to help the team, and I was so eager to show this, to play with a lot of desire that I got a red card against Everton. The feeling was very, very bad. Terrible.
"Then against Liverpool I made a mistake. I didn't want to clear the ball, I wanted to make a pass but it was a bad decision and it was very difficult again. But it's football and it didn’t affect the other good moments that I've had here, I have much more to celebrate than to be sad about."
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