Noel Whelan has claimed that Champions League semi-final hero Lucas Moura is at risk of being axed for the final should Harry Kane be fit for Tottenham.
The Brazilian was the man of the moment against Ajax as he scored a hat-trick to rocket Spurs to the first ever Champions League in the clubs history.
Speaking to Football Insider, the BBC pundit said: “Kane will definitely start if he’s fit, Pochettino has to go with his main man”.
“It comes down to Son and Moura. Son is a bit more dangerous and has been winning games for a lot longer. So, you then have Moura on the bench. It would be cruel after what he did in the semi-final but football is cruel.”
Lucas has enjoyed a great season under Mauricio Pochettino who has his main striker Kane available for the final on Saturday. The £80k per-week [source: Spotrac] forward has scored 15 goals in his 48 appearances for Spurs and averages a goal every 213 minutes in the Premier League.
OPINION
This will be one of the toughest decisions Mauricio Pochettino will have had to make in his entire Spurs career. Noel Whelan is most likely right with his tip that Lucas will be the one to be axed with Heung Min Son too irreplaceable and the imminent return of talisman Harry Kane. This should only happen if Kane is 100% fit and ready for a game of this magnitude, there is definitely no room for passengers and Moura and Son can definitely cause enough problems between the two of them. Having said this – Whelan also makes a great point that Moura could offer a much bigger threat of the bench. Should the game be still level or tight going into the last half an hour, the Brazilian’s pace on the break and with balls over the top will be huge compared to that of Kane who could be seen as more of a powerful poacher in the early stages.