Harry Kane Ajax Tottenham 08052019Getty

'I'll have to prove myself to Pochettino!' - Kane expects fight for Tottenham place as striker eyes Champions League final return

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino will be anxious to have Harry Kane back in time for the Champions League final, but the striker expects a tough fight for a place in the starting XI after his side's incredible comeback against Ajax in the last four.

Lucas Moura was the hero for the Premier League club as he completed a second-half hat-trick in the dying seconds to overcome a three-goal aggregate deficit in Amsterdam to take them through to the final against Liverpool in June.

Lucas partnered Son Hueng-min up front in the absence of Kane, who has been out since April with an ankle injury. 

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The England star is hoping to be available again for the European decider, but thinks it might be tough to knock one of the semi-final stars out of the first 11.

"Hopefully [I'll be fit for the final]. Rehab's going well so far. I started straight-line running this week so that's why I was okay to straight-line run today," he told BT Sport. "I didn't want to cut any corners. We'll just see. So far so good. If it carries on the way it should then I hope to be [fit], but there's still a few weeks.

"Lucas has scored a hat-trick, we beat Manchester City [in the quarter-finals], we beat Ajax in the semis. I have to start training even harder and prove myself to the gaffer. Hopefully I'll be back fit and hopefully get a starting place."

The 25-year-old thought his side had missed their chance to go through at one point in the second half, but was in awe of the way his team-mates "dug deep" to find the decisive goal six minutes into added time.

"It's just incredible. Disappointing first half, to concede two goals," he said. "But at half-time, we said: 'Look it's just 45 minutes. It could be our second-last game of the season. We don't have to worry about being tired. Just give everything.'

"When Lucas scored the two, you then think we're going to score. But when Jan [Vertonghen] hit the crossbar, you think that's it, it's not your day. Lucas scored a great finish at the end. Just speechless, really.

"I'm a fan first and foremost. I want to win. I know how much it means to the club and everyone involved at the club, the players, the manager, the staff, the chairman, everyone. As a player as well, you're looking at the game, what would I be doing if I was out there as well? 

"It's hard to switch off from that mode. The lads they dug deep, they showed heart, they showed character and that's all we ask for. It's just an incredible game. 

"I went down there for half-time. We all knew it wasn't good enough. We had to work harder, press harder. We had chances in the first half, so we knew if we could get more we could take them. As soon as we got one, it's game on.

"Over the two legs, we probably didn't play as well as we'd have liked, but we found a way and that's what football's about. You see the game yesterday, Liverpool found a way to beat Barcelona and somehow we found a way to beat Ajax even when we're not at our best.

"Of course we know we have got one more game to go, the final. But we have to take this all in and prepare for that one."

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