Thursday’s encounter between Tottenham and Inter Milan, brings back memories of the 2010 Champions League tie between the two sides, when Spurs won 3-1 courtesy of brilliance from Bale. Do the Italians await a similar fate on Thursday?
“Taxi for Maicon” may be a familiar phrase for many of the thousands of fans who will be gathered at White Hart Lane come Thursday. The origin of these words dates back to a night in 2010, when a certain Gareth Bale demolished a formidable Inter Milan side with a sublime hat-trick making a mockery of the highly reputable Brazilian right back Maicon.
It was the season in which Inter were defending their European title and Spurs were mainly a hard-working side trying to make a solid impact on the European stage.
Spurs went on to win that game and surprise the whole world. Three years later, a Spurs win may not be that big a surprise for most the football pundits. Infact considering that Spurs are currently on an unbeaten 12 match run in the league, and poised comfortably above rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, many might be tipping them as being favorites for this contest.
This Spurs side narrates an energetic presence whilst taking the field. Managed by the 35 year old Andre Villas-Boas, it has the influential Gareth Bale in top current form.
Bale has scored 7 goals in his past 5 League appearances, and will be looking to make a strong statement yet again as he’ll storm through the left flank on the 7th of March. He will be eagerly looking to boost his 20 goal tally for this season. Bale’s reputation has swelled a great deal over the past couple of seasons, and at 23, he promises to improve further over the period of the next few years. Such is his reputation that many go on to compare him with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Villas-Boas too has a bit of a history with Italy’s Inter Milan. He worked as a scout at the San Siro for 18 months under the then manager Jose Mourinho, before leaving and taking the job as a manager himself at Academica de Coimbra. His youthful exuberance might just be the thing needed by Spurs, to launch themselves on the European map, and stay there for a formidable amount of time.
Inter, on the other hand, have managed just 3 wins in their last 12 Serie A matches, trailing by 12 points behind leaders Juventus, and acquiring 4th spot courtesy of a better goal difference than 5th place Lazio. To make matters worse, Stramaccioni's side are dented with injury problems as Diego Milito (knee) is out for the season, and centre-backs Walter Samuel (Achilles) and Andrea Ranocchia (knee) also remain sidelined.
This means that the Italians will be highly dependent, on the services of in-form striker Rodrigo Palacio to deliver the goods against a very consistent Tottenham side.
It was the season in which Inter were defending their European title and Spurs were mainly a hard-working side trying to make a solid impact on the European stage.
Spurs went on to win that game and surprise the whole world. Three years later, a Spurs win may not be that big a surprise for most the football pundits. Infact considering that Spurs are currently on an unbeaten 12 match run in the league, and poised comfortably above rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, many might be tipping them as being favorites for this contest.
This Spurs side narrates an energetic presence whilst taking the field. Managed by the 35 year old Andre Villas-Boas, it has the influential Gareth Bale in top current form.
Bale has scored 7 goals in his past 5 League appearances, and will be looking to make a strong statement yet again as he’ll storm through the left flank on the 7th of March. He will be eagerly looking to boost his 20 goal tally for this season. Bale’s reputation has swelled a great deal over the past couple of seasons, and at 23, he promises to improve further over the period of the next few years. Such is his reputation that many go on to compare him with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Villas-Boas too has a bit of a history with Italy’s Inter Milan. He worked as a scout at the San Siro for 18 months under the then manager Jose Mourinho, before leaving and taking the job as a manager himself at Academica de Coimbra. His youthful exuberance might just be the thing needed by Spurs, to launch themselves on the European map, and stay there for a formidable amount of time.
Inter, on the other hand, have managed just 3 wins in their last 12 Serie A matches, trailing by 12 points behind leaders Juventus, and acquiring 4th spot courtesy of a better goal difference than 5th place Lazio. To make matters worse, Stramaccioni's side are dented with injury problems as Diego Milito (knee) is out for the season, and centre-backs Walter Samuel (Achilles) and Andrea Ranocchia (knee) also remain sidelined.
This means that the Italians will be highly dependent, on the services of in-form striker Rodrigo Palacio to deliver the goods against a very consistent Tottenham side.
