10 Greatest British Performances In Champions League History

7. Tottenham 3-1 Inter Milan 2010/11 Champions League

As we have already seen, a debut season in the Champions League could bring out the best in a team (Man City) or it could lead to a team underperforming (Blackburn). One thing it could also do is introduce world class players to managers and dazzle them with their quality. Certainly, the latter can be true as well as Tottenham progressing through to the Last 16 round as group winners. Losing a 2 goal lead on Matchday 1 away to Werder Bremen was certainly frustrating, but they took that out on FC Twente on Matchday 2 with a brutal 4-1 demolition at White Hart Lane. Next came the daunting task of facing the European champions, Inter Milan, at the San Siro. What followed in the first half would've filled all Spurs fans with dread as they conspired to concede 4 goals in the opening 25 minutes along with keeper Heurelho Gomes to a red card. Step forward Gareth Bale. His hat-trick stunned the San Siro into silence and sent Spurs fans home contended that they could compete with the best-along as they didn't make that kind of start again. Tottenham- and Gareth Bale- had sent shots across Inter Milan's bow ahead of the return at White Hart Lane two weeks later. They obviously didn't head the warnings as Bale churned out chance after chance for teammates to try and convert. He combined with Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko for Spurs' 2nd and 3rd strikes in the second half after another starlet of the campaign Rafael Van Der Vaart had opened the scoring. Samuel Eto'o equalised for the Italians but Crouch's and Pavlyuchenko's goals made for a grim night for Inter and manager Rafael Benitez, who was on English soil for the first time since his departure from Liverpool a year before. The whole campaign, but this game in particular, saw Spurs' stock in Europe rise that little bit. Even so, they managed to beat AC Milan at the San Siro in the Round of 16,before being ousted by Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate the next round.