TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3-1 INTER MILAN

Gareth Bale bamboozled Inter Milan yet again to help Spurs enjoy one of their greatest victories in European football.
After Rafael van der Vaart had coolly struck the opener, the Welsh wonder showed the silky skills that have brought comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bale provided an inch-perfect cross for Peter Crouch to net his 11th Champions League goal.
And, after Samuel Eto’o had given Inter hope in the 80th minute, it was the left winger who set up the decisive third goal for Roman Pavlyuchenko that handed the European champions their first defeat of the group stage.

For Rafael Benitez, it was not the welcome he wanted on his first match in England since he left Liverpool for Inter in the summer.
But his Spurs counterpart Harry Redknapp had plotted three successive Premier League victories over the Spaniard at White Hart Lane and was eager for another, more significant scalp.
So too were his players.
While they were timid and troubled in the opening period of the game in Milan, going 4-0 down after just 35 minutes, this time they were the opposite. Attack was the best form of their defence and their scintillating style left Inter in disarray. Van der Vaart’s 18th minute effort came as no surprise really.
Luka Modric battled for the ball on the edge of the box and a deft touch found the Dutchman alone in the box.
Inter felt he was offside, but van der Vaart remained calm and composed to finish past Luca Castellazzi.
Van der Vaart lined up against his compatriot Wesley Sneijder and their duel was mesmerising before van der Vaart was forced off at half time with what could be a recurrence of his hamstring injury. They ooze quality and Inter’s playmaker posed a massive threat.
He stung the fingers of Carlo Cudicini with a low effort before the Spurs keeper arched backwards to push over a curling 20-yard free kick just before half time.
But as much as he could change the game in a moment, so too could Bale, whose memorable late hat-trick provided some respectability to the scoreline two weeks ago.
The Brazilian Maicon might be widely regarded as the best right back in the world, but he endured another torrid time against the Welshman. Bale was fearless and peerless as the home fans sang ‘Taxi for Maicon’.
He left Maicon trailing in the 25th minute to pick out Crouch at the far post.
But the striker got his angles wrong and fired weakly wide.
Frustrated he might have been, but the miss was forgotten in the 61st minute when he did find the net for the Spurs second.
It was inevitable Bale would be the creator with another brilliant burst down the left and cross that Crouch bundled home.
The big striker had been desperate to score against Benitez. The Inter boss had signed him for Liverpool, but then barely, and frustratingly, gave him a starting spot and eventually sold him to Portsmouth where he flourished under Redknapp.
Inter reacted and forced their way back into the game when Eto’o cut in from the left-hand side and drilled a low shot past the outstretched arm of Cudicini.
But this was Tottenham’s night as the white and navy half of north London was able to savour European football in all its glory, with a cherry-glazed topping of a third.
With Inter high up the field in search of an equaliser, Younes Kaboul robbed Coutinho before releasing Bale beyond the flagging Italian defence to cross for Pavlyuchenko to tap home.

sport 360