Tottenham Hotspur v Inter Milan (Europa League)The Italian Connection

Tottenham and Inter Milan have been drawn together in the last-16 of the Europa League, reviving memories of their two outstanding games in the Champions League two seasons ago. Spurs, however, have many other Italian connections in their long history.

Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan will forever be linked through the sensational matches played in the Champions League group stage in the autumn of 2010.

Gareth Bale v Inter Milan

Inter were holders of the trophy while Spurs were competing in the modern version of the competition for the first time. It was the mid-point of the group stages, both teams had played two games and were to meet twice in a fortnight. Inter were at home for the first game and within 13 minutes, Tottenham’s dreams of progressing beyond the group stages looked to be turning into an embarrassing nightmare. They were a goal down after two minutes, Heurelho Gomes was sent off after eight and Inter put away the subsequent penalty. A third followed after 14 minutes and a fourth was added ten minutes before the interval.

Damage limitation was the order of the day to avoid a heavy defeat but it was at this point that Gareth Bale took on Inter single-handedly and brought them to their knees. He scored a goal, seven minutes after the break, running from his own half and leaving the defenders in his trail. It was merely a consolation was the initial view. Bale, however, had other ideas and scored two more, very similar goals in the final minutes to restore Tottenham’s pride and belief and leave the Inter players and supporters clamouring for the final whistle.

‘Taxi for Maicon’

A fortnight later, in the greatest night I have ever witnessed at White Hart Lane, Bale did it again and tortured Maicon and the Inter defenders as Spurs won 3 – 1. Rafael Van der Vaart gave Spurs a half-time lead, Bale set up Peter Crouch for a second before Inter scored with ten minutes to play. Bale completed the misery for Inter by creating the third with another pacey run down the left wing for Roman Pavlyuchenko to score in the 89th minute.

Other Italian Encounters

Prior to the 2010 meeting with Inter, Spurs had played Italian opposition on only two previous occasions. The first was in the UEFA Cup semi-final of 1971-72 when they were drawn against AC Milan. Steve Perryman scored twice to give Spurs a slender 2 – 1 lead to take to the second leg where a goal from Alan Mullery gave Spurs an early lead and enabled them to progress to the Final with a 1 – 1 draw.

The second match against Italian opposition was less successful as Spurs lost 2 – 0 to Udinese in Italy in a revamped UEFA Cup in October, 2008. The match marked the final game of Juande Ramos time as manager, Harry Redknapp replacing him the following weekend.

Since the 2010 games with Inter, Spurs have also played AC Milan in the Champions League and Lazio in this season’s Europa League. Only one goal was scored in those four games – Crouch getting the all important strike in the San Siro stadium following a late counter-attack by Aaron Lennon. That evening Spurs produced a classic European performance – one of their best ever away performances in Europe. In the home leg they held out for a scoreless draw and qualification for the quarter-finals.

The two Europa League games with Lazio ended goal-less but it enabled both teams to progress to the knock-out stages of the competition.

Anglo-Italian Cup

Alan Gilzeam returned to White Hart Lane this season. [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]The only other time Spurs have faced Italian opponents was in the little remembered Anglo-Italian Cup  of the early 1970s. The League Cup winners in the two countries contested the trophy. In early September, 1971, Tottenham won both matches, 1 – 0 in Italy and 2 – 0 at White Hart Lane. Martin Chivers scored in both games with Alan Gilzean adding the second in the home game.

Italian Connections – Players

The transfer of Paul Gascoigne to Lazio in 1992 after he had recovered from the injury sustained in the previous year’s FA Cup win will always link the two clubs. Gascoigne is ‘Legend’ at both clubs and will be remembered favourably by both sets of supporters.

An Italian player remembered less highly at White Hart Lane is Paolo Tramezzani. A left back signed by Christian Gross in 1998 he had had a season with Inter six years earlier. He made only six appearances for Spurs before being removed from the team and eventually joined Pistoese in Italy eighteen months later.

Long before transfers around the world were common place, Johnny Jordan left Tottenham and signed for Juventus. A forward, he signed for Spurs as an amateur after the 2nd World War. He turned professional a year later and he went straight into the first team in August, 1947. He scored 13 goals in 27 appearances but left for Italy twelve months later. Like many other players, Jordan didn’t settle in Italy and returned to England after nine months to play for Birmingham City.

A player who had made his debut for Tottenham at the age of 17 in 1950, also spent some time in Italy before returning to White Hart Lane. Tony Marchi had become a regular in the Tottenham team in the mid-1950s and had been appointed captain but in the summer of 1957, Spurs received an offer for Marchi from Lanerossi and he went to play in the country of his father. After one season he moved to Torino but returned to England a year later. Marchi remained at White Hart Lane as a very reliable and trusted reserve who frequently replaced Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower in the successful team of the 1960s. He played in the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final in 1963 when Mackay was injured.

With such pleasant recent memories of matches against Italian teams, Tottenham will be hoping to reproduce their form against Inter to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.