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Exclusive: How Leonardo stole Tottenham hero Lucas Moura from under Inter's nose

Exclusive: How Leonardo stole Tottenham hero Lucas Moura from under Inter's nose

  • Fabrizio Romano. Translated by Nikita Fesyukov
Three goals in the Champions League semifinals. As if that were not enough, because in this edition of the competition he had already scored an incredibly important goal for Tottenham, on December 11, with Lucas Moura scoring the equalizer at the Nou Camp to help his team qualify to the last 16 of the Champions League and eliminating Inter, which seemed to be in his destiny.

Pochettino has made the Brazilian look like the player he was predicted to become, despite the fact that he never managed to make a real difference at Paris Saint-Germain. The Spurs signed the player for 30 million euros a year and a half ago and now Moura has repaid his debt and led his team to the Champions League final.

However, all could have been different. In August 2012, the attacker was close to Inter Milan. Director Branca flew to Brazil with president Moratti to try and finalize the deal for the Sao Paulo star. Negotiations lasted for weeks and there was the yes of the player, the contracts were already signed but the definitive agreement with the Brazilian club was missing.

In the final minute, just like Moura's goal last night, Leonardo made a move. The current sporting director of AC Milan snatched the starlet from under Inter's nose, offering 45 million euros to make the difference. And since then, the player has grown a lot, scoring at the Nou Camp to eliminate the Nerazzurri and now netting a hattrick to send Tottenham to Madrid.