Tottenham beat Inter Milan 3-1

Van der Vaart, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko score as Tottenham beat holders Inter Milan 3-1

Tottenham enjoyed one of the most memorable nights in the club's history after an inspiring 3-1 win over holders Inter Milan in the Champions League last night.

Harry Redknapp's side tore into the European champions at White Hart Lane and, although Rafael van der Vaart, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko got the goals, it was winger Gareth Bale, who took centre-stage with a truly spell-binding display.


Tottenham Hotspur's Rafael van der Vaart (left), Peter Crouch and
Roman Pavlyuchenko celebrate their goals against Inter Milan in their
UEFA Champions League Group A match at White Hart Lane in London
last night. Tottenham won 3-1. pic/AFP

Van der Vaart opened the scoring early on before Wales winger Bale, produced superb runs to set up goals for Crouch and Pavlyuchenko after the interval. Samuel Eto'o had briefly sent pulses racing when he made it 2-1 in the closing stages.

For supporters raised on sepia-tinted tales of the 'glory, glory nights' when Tottenham took on Europe's best in the 1960s, this was a dream come true. The Premier League club are now top of Group A ufffd ahead of Inter on goal difference ufffd and look well set to reach the knock-out stages.

Redknapp had spent the last few days in increasingly combative mood as he stewed over Nani's controversial goal for Manchester United against his side on Saturday.

But the Spurs boss received some good news in the lead-up to kick-off as the English Football Association confirmed he would not be punished for his comments about referee Mark Clattenburg, who had awarded that bizarre Nani goal.

Spurs had looked a bundle of nerves against Inter two weeks ago, yet there was no sign of any stage-fright this time.

It was Tottenham who set the tempo, with Bale ufffd scorer of a brilliant hat-trick in that 4-3 defeat in the San Siro ufffd tormenting Inter right-back Maicon with a pair of incisive surges.

Benitez had insisted before the match that Bale was not unstoppable, but Inter had no answer to the 21-year-old and he set up the second goal in the 61st minute.

Resultsu00a0
Tottenhamu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 3-1u00a0u00a0u00a0 Inter Milan
W Bremenu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 0-2u00a0u00a0 FC Twente
Benficau00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 4-3u00a0u00a0u00a0 Lyon
H Tel Avivu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 0-0u00a0u00a0 Schalke
Bursasporu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 0-3u00a0u00a0 Man Utd
Valenciau00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 3-0u00a0u00a0 Rangers
Rubin Kazanu00a0 0-0u00a0u00a0 Panathinaikos
Copenhagenu00a0u00a0 1-1u00a0u00a0u00a0 Barcelona