21.54 Now, here's something we honestly thought we'd never see again. It's Harry Redknapp doing a TV interview.  "It's a night we will all remember and I was just pleased to be part of it. Luka was brilliant again tonight. He's come back to top form. Bale was amazing - they're just doing some drug testing on him now, ha ha. It's amazing how he can just run and run and run. What he's done to Maicon over two games is just incredible. He's got the ability to cross the ball on the run, to shoot, dribble and head it. He can do it all. He's a great lad, as well. When Eto'o scored we started to look a little bit tired, but Pav got on the end of a great cross from Gareth."  21.50 Kids, he's referring to George Best.  From Ian Chadband: "At San Siro and White Hart Lane, has there been better 2 hours of solo brilliance from any Brit in European Cup? Best since El Beatle '66?"  21.49 Also, he's not a great talker, but it must be highly embarrassing simply to be fielding a bunch of questions along the lines of "Phwoooaaar, that was good, weren't it?" But equally, what else is there to ask him? Why bother with the Muzak that drips from his mouth when he can produce pure Ravel with his feet?  21.45 Well, that's nice to see. It almost seems a little boring to be discussing Bale again, but it's a mark of how far he's come that he didn't really surprise us with his performance tonight. It was just, as Bale is, very very good.  Jack Wilshere on Twitter: "Gareth Bale... take a bow"  Gareth Bale: "I just feel confident on the ball at the moment. The team's playing well, and I'm just trying to do what I do best. It's just about being given the chance and learning in games and in training."  Rafael van der Vaart: "We played fantastic. It's a great feeling. I thought my goal was offside, but it was a great ball from Luka. Gareth's great. I think he's one of our best players. Maicon is one of the best defenders in the world, and he killed him today. The whole club, we have to keep this guy. It's a special night for everybody, but it's just a game. It's only three points. My hamstring needs a few days off, but I was good enough to play 45 minutes."  21.40 We'll have Tottenham reaction for you as soon as we get it.  21.39 Elsewhere, it finished Bursaspor 0-3 Manchester United, and Valencia 3-0 Rangers. That puts United a point away from qualification.  21.38 Twente have scored two late goals to win against Werder Bremen. But Tottenham lead the group on goal difference!  FULL TIME Tottenham 3-1 Inter Milan Tottenham have beaten the European champions! You hear a lot of talk about the Champions League being 'the promised land'. This is surely it for Tottenham.  90+2 min The Inter fans look like they've just been trick-or-treated by Charles Bronson. Seconds left.  90+1 min It's a corner to Tottenham, but Bale's just going to keep the ball there rather than cross it. Eventually he gives away a free-kick, and Modric gets himself booked for standing in front of the ball as Sneijder tries to take it. That's brainless.  90 min Milito hits the bar from 18 yards! Three minutes of injury time, but the Spurs fans are already bringing the roof off with their singing.  88 min GOAL Tottenham 3-1 Inter Milan (Pavlyuchenko) It's the Gareth Bale show again! Pure, blissful kick-and-rush by the Welshman, except he's picking up his long passes himself. Again Inter can't live with Bale's pace, and his vision picks out Pavlyuchenko at the back post for a simple tap-in. That seals a wonderful night for Tottenham, and we're fast running out of superlatives for Bale.  87 min Maicon's now barely bothering to defend. He's taken up a permanent outside-right position as Inter try and rustle up an equaliser. Which is leaving an awful lot of space for Bale to attack...  85 min Jitters, jitters, jitters, as Inter enjoy a long spell of possession in the Tottenham half. Modric tries to release Pavlyuchenko, but the Russian's quite a long way offside.  84 min Huge cheers as Lucio gets himself booked for taking a Tottenham throw himself. The Brazilian thought he'd knocked the ball off Pavlyuchenko.  83 min Palacios is ready to come on for Tottenham, probably for Modric... nope, it's Lennon, who's put in a Herculean shift tonight.  82 min Tottenham suddenly looking immensely nervy all of a sudden. Maicon's cross is blocked by Assou-Ekotto, though, and Bale breaks with intent. He swoops inside, and Tottenham keep possession, which is just what they need to do...  From Henry Winter: "Bale's humiliated Maicon again...'Taxi for Maicon' comes the chant from thousands of Tottenham fans."  80 min Big penalty appeal for Inter as Coutinho goes down chasing a long ball! Nothing doing from Victor Kassai.  78 min GOAL Tottenham 2-1 Inter (Eto'o) Oh, what a finish. That's superb from Eto'o. Hutton slightly culpable of standing off him and letting Eto'o cut inside. The Cameroonian does just that and curls it viciously round Cudicini's outstretched fingers. Superb from Eto'o. We've got a finish now, folks...  77 min Bale runs round Maicon again, but runs into Zanetti. Pavlyuchenko tries to beat Lucio, but the Brazilian gets a block in. Spurs still pressing...  75 min Pavlyuchenko replaces Crouch. Meanwhile, Gareth Bale is almost taunting Maicon in that left corner. The man's confidence at the moment is frightening. If you were, say, a waiter with this much confidence, you'd be carrying nine plates at once and taking down the orders in Swahili.  74 min I apologise, but in this delectable melee of a football match, I've missed a substitution. Coutinho came on for Biabiany. Meanwhile, here comes the man for a party: Roman Pavlyuchenko.  73 min Bale brought down cynically on the left, but referee Kassai allows Crouch to play the advantage. Of course, when you've got Crouch with three defenders in between him and goal, it's not much of an advantage at all. Inter clear.  72 min Jenas gets clipped - does he? - by Walter Samuel. Oh, he's getting booked for diving.  71 min And he gets a chance within seconds! He bursts down the left channel, out-sprinting Gallas with his fresher legs, but drags his left-footed shot across goal.  69 min Hutton, who's just looked a little tentative tonight, gets in a crucial defensive header. Inter are just seeing a little bit of possession now, though. Eto'o shoots from distance, but Cudicini smothers at his near post. Meanwhile, Diego Milito is coming on for Inter, replacing Goran Pandev. Yep, that's right. Inter just casually bring on Milito. Like that's allowed.  68 min If it finished like this, Tottenham would top Group A this evening. And they'd need just two points from their last two group games to make it into the next round.  66 min It's Eto'o v Gallas on the Inter left. Like two ferocious centaurs, they muscle each other all the way down the line. Gallas wins this duel; Eto'o walks away with a sniff.  65 min Well, why not, Aaron Lennon? Why not try and beat four men simultaneously? He even wins a throw, bless his tiny, tiny socks.  63 min GOAL DISALLOWED (Crouch) Bale almost does it again. Knocking the ball past a player and running after it is all very well in the school playground. But Bale's doing it to Maicon, one of the best right-backs in the world. He just takes the ball over the line this time, though, and the fifth referee (or whatever he's called) has his flag up well before Crouch has the ball in the net.  62 min Biabiany tries a little curler, but it's straight at Cudicini and caught. Taking the last 120 minutes of football between Tottenham and Inter, Tottenham are winning 5-0.  61 min Half an hour left. Can Tottenham hold on? Actually, perhaps the more appropriate question would be: "Can Inter?"  59 min GOAL Tottenham 2-0 Inter Milan (Crouch) Bale does it again! Welcome to the Champions League, Nwankwo! Bale simply ghosted past him like he wasn't there! Getting to the byline is one thing, though. Picking out a perfect cross is quite another, and Crouch barely had to break stride to tap the ball into an empty net! He'll be pleased to get on the scoresheet, but that goal was all Bale's.  58 min It's Tottenham who are playing like the European champions at the moment. Inter have tried to look busier since half-time, but they haven't been able to keep the ball for any period of time. They're just about keeping their heads above water, though.  57 min Spurs laying siege at the moment! Inter can't get the ball away, and eventually Gallas diverts Lennon's cross just wide. But here come Tottenham again with Lennon, who's been the stand-out player of this half. He's got bodies to aim for in the area and... handballs. Ah.  56 min Modric tries to magic his way past Zanetti, and wins a free-kick as the Argentinian drags him down and comes within a whisker of giving away a yellow card.  55 min Bale with the corner, and Kaboul was closing in on that! It just evades him and whistles away for a throw.  54 min Crouch with the header from Hutton's cross! It's tipped over by Castellazzi. Aha. A goal in Turkey. It's gone to Darren Fletcher, and he's scored it at the right end. United lead.  53 min Muntari does make way for Nwankwo. What do we know about him, then? Well, nothing. This is his debut. He's 19 and he's Nigerian. That's your lot, I'm afraid.  52 min Bale! So close! Crouch and Castellazzi went up for the free-kick and it came out to Bale, who tried an overhead lob into the empty net! It went agonisingly wide, but that was inspired.  50 min Muntari's stayed down after a challenge. He doesn't look in too much distress, but Nwankwo is warming up on the Inter bench.  49 min "Come on Spurs, clean sheet tonight please," urges Dave Mynett. Spurs look a little jittery in their own half at the moment, though, but Assou-Ekotto manages to cut out the danger. Lennon then spins deliciously past Chivu, who drags him back and earns himself a yellow card.  48 min Maicon tries one from distance! It goes well over. More on Van der Vaart - it's a precautionary substitution more than anything else, so they're still hoping to have him fit for this weekend's trip to Bolton.  47 min Inter just look a little more purposeful in the second half. A Biabiany cross is inches away from finding the outstretched toe of Eto'o.  46 min They won't do it like that! Lennon cuts in from the right and floats it over for Crouch, who's in perfect position to line up the bicycle kick! It's miscued. I can genuinely only remember a Crouch bicycle kick coming off once: against Trabzonspor or somebody for Liverpool in a Champions League game. He's been dining - and diving - off that one effort for the last seven years.  20.46 Jenas replaces the Dutchman as Inter kick off the second half. Tottenham going back to a five-man midfield, which might leave Crouch slightly exposed if Inter can cut off his service from the wings.  20.45 In fact, half of tonight's eight games are goalless, including Bursaspor v Manchester United. Rangers are 1-0 down in Valencia, Copenhagen are drawing 1-1 at home with Barcelona and Benfica are churning Lyon 3-0. The players are back out, but Rafael van der Vaart is not among them.  20.42 It's currently 0-0 between Twente and Werder Bremen in the group's other game. If it were to finish like this, then, Inter and Tottenham would be level on points at the top of Group A, with Twente and Bremen four points behind. A win in either of their two remaining games would then be enough to get Tottenham (and Inter, for that matter) into the last 16.  20.39 Breaking news (real breaking news this time): Van der Vaart has a little niggle at half-time and is a doubt for the second half.  From Ian Chadband: "Maicon is supposed to have had a crisis of confidence of late. Being introduced to Bale must be tipping him over the edge"  20.36 Tottenham lead the European champions at half-time. Isn't that something? There were signs, though, that Inter were just beginning to come back towards the end of that half. Tottenham have done well to keep one of the world's most feared front fours at bay, but it'll take another big push to hold on to this 1-0 lead. The good news, though, is that they've looked capable of puncturing Inter's defence several times tonight. Bale, Van der Vaart, Modric, all excellent. Crouch, Lennon, Huddlestone, all good.  HALF TIME Tottenham 1-0 Inter Milan Penny for Rafa Benitez's thoughts?  45+1 min Hutton heads the corner away from below his own bar, and that's the end of a wonderful half of football.  45 min Maicon making a foray down the right as the minutes leak away in this first half. He crosses deep, and with Biabiany closing, Hutton takes no risks by heading it behind.  43 min Tottenham come close again several times. Bale brilliantly wriggles past Maicon again, Huddlestone can almost launch a piledriver, Van der Vaart can almost get his shot away, and Inter eventuially get it away.  42 min Brilliant save by Cudicini! It was just dipping under the crossbar, and the 37-year-old Cudicini leapt to palm it away with both hands. Super save. Tottenham deal with the corner.  41 min Eto'o with a sublime little back-heel to evade Modric and Hutton and bear down on goal, and Modric did his side a great service by bringing him down there. It's a free-kick in the most dangerous area imaginable, though, dead centre about 25 yards out...  40 min Huddlestone lines it up, but shoots over! Bale again, an early cross this time, headed down by Crouch and then laid off by Van der Vaart. There's more goals in this, you'd imagine.  39 min Yellow card for Hutton for a little bit of backchat as he protests an Inter free-kick. Sneijer takes the kick from the left, Lucio's header is deflected, and from Tottenham's point of view that could have gone into much more dangerous places than Cudicini's arms  38 min Van der Vaart spreads the ball deliciously out right for Hutton, who's one on one with Samuel. Take him on, half of White Hart Lane urges him. Hutton elects to bend the ball around Samuel. He ends up bending the ball around the stanchion that's holding up the South Stand. Disappointing.  37 min Sneijder's getting closer! That's his third shot from around the left corner of the penalty area, and this one is struck sweetly but scooped up by Cudicini.  36 min Hutton jumps, but Castellazzi jumps and catches well under pressure.  34 min Sneijder gives the ball away, and Lennon is away! He tries to flick the ball outside Samuel, and the Argentinian bundles him over. That's more cynical than the average internet messageboard user. Yellow card for Samuel, and a free-kick for Van der Vaart, which is deflected over for a corner.  32 min Bale's shot from Crouch's knock-down is blocked, and here come Inter on the break. Sneijder and Eto'o exchange the ball mesmerisingly on the edge of the area, but Kaboul cuts it out decisively. Finally, Muntari's shot from 35 yards is well over the bar.  30 min Bale, with the right foot! And that goes high and wide. That, would you believe, is Gareth Bale's first shot off target in the Champions League. His previous six all worked either the keeper or the net.  29 min Assou-Ekotto clears the ball straight up into the air - that's the Tottenham we know and love - but Kaboul's got that covered, and clears the ball from danger.  28 min Inter now have a corner as Pandev cuts in from the right and his shot clips the heels of Gallas and goes wide. Sneijder to take.  26 min Inter have numbers and a bit of space on the right, but Zanetti, about 35 yards out, tries to insert the ball through the gates of glory. He misses the gates of glory by some distance and ends up in the laundry bin of ignominy.  24 min Oh, what a chance for Tottenham! They were queueing up in the area! Bale skins Maicon for around the dozenth time this game, gets the cross in from the left by-line, and Crouch drags the volley wide from eight yards out! Not only should he have put it away, but even if he wasn't going to put it away, Van der Vaart was unmarked right next to him! Harry Redknapp is six shades of furious out there.  23 min Meanwhile, in wherever Bursaspor is, Bursaspor and Manchester United are still goalless. You can follow that one here. Sneijder tries to sneak in between the two centre-backs, goes down, but nothing's given.  21 min Tottenham trying to calm the game down, which is fairly mature. There was a time when if Tottenham scored early, they'd pile forward in the hope of being six-up by half-time. If anybody wonders why they've found it so hard to keep clean sheets when they've had defenders like Sol Campbell and Ledley King to call on, that's mostly the reason why.  19 min Biabiany chases down a long ball, and it looks dicey for a second as Assou-Ekotto and Cudicini dither slightly. Eventually Cudicini comes to claim it before the spring-heeled Biabiany can pounce.  17 min GOAL Tottenham 1-0 Inter Milan (Van der Vaart) Brilliant! Simple, destuctive genius from Modric, skipping past two tackles and then playing Van der Vaart through. Van der Vaart, one on one with Castellazzi smashes home emphatically at the near post. Who said Modric and Van der Vaart couldn't play together? They just harmonised like Hall and Oates there. Tottenham lead!  16 min Inter break, but Tottenham get numbers back. Sneijder with another speculative try from distance.  15 min Hutton with a deep cross from the right, Crouch heads it down, but infuriatingly for Tottenham it goes into the space Van der Vaart had just vacated.  14 min The corner's headed away, and then Van der Vaart makes a bit of a Wayne Bridge of the cross from the left wing.  13 min Eto'o! Almost a chance! Inter just passed through Tottenham like a knife through Marmite there. Eventually they just make one pass too many and Cudicini gathers. Meanwhile, at the other end another scintillating burst by Bale wins Tottenham a corner.  11 min First break from Bale! A little twist, and he was away. Maicon didn't have a clue where he was. The cross was swung in wickedly, but Castellazzi catches comfortably enough.  9 min Nice start by Spurs, but Inter look ominously accomplished on the counter-attack. They'll be happy to let the home side puff themselves out and then pick them off later.  8 min Modric with a beautiful bit of skill to evade Lucio, and he tries a shot with his left foot from 20 yards, but he's a little off camber and it's an easy save for Castellazzi.  7 min Eto'o whistles a shot just wide from distance! First moment of real danger from Inter! Well, if it's statistics you're after, how about this, courtesy of Opta: Eto'o has scored (6) or assisted (3) each of Inter's last nine goals in the Champions League.  5 min It's headed away, as is Van der Vaart's follow-up cross. It's out for a throw, though, which comes to nothing.  4 min Van der Vaart is offside as he chases a Lennon through ball, but seconds later Lennon wins another corner. Sarah Abraham writes: "How about some statistics, then? Here's hoping the Spurs lose."  3 min Pandev gets the better of Hutton on the Inter left. Sneijder cuts in from the left and tries a shot from the corner of the 18-yard box, but it's dragged well wide.  2 min Bale with his first little run, and as expected Zanetti and Maicon create a little pincer movement to block him off. Bale comes inside and finds Van der Vaart. Assou-Ekotto with the first cross, and Muntari heads it out for a corner, which is cleared by Inter. Good start by Tottenham, though.  1 min Breaking news: Tottenham are not losing yet. This time in Milan, they were.  19.45 Crouch and Van der Vaart to kick off the match. The noise!  19.43 Predictions from all of you? I reckon both sides will be reasonably satisfied with a draw. Inter can all but qualify with a win.  19.42 Here come the players, accompanied by the Champions League music. Tottenham captained by Huddlestone; Inter by Zanetti.  19.41 No Ledley King in the Tottenham defence, but William Gallas and Younes Kaboul have both looked a lot more soild in recent weeks. The Spurs back four - which will be supplemented by Tom Huddlestone on occasion - will have threats coming at them in all directions tonight: from the pace of Pandev, the skill of Sneijder, the excellence of Eto'o and the breakneck speed of Biabiany. That nagging feeling in the back of your head, by the way, is correct: alliteratively, the Biabiany one was cheating a little bit.  19.36 You can bet that Inter Milan will have a plan for Gareth Bale. At least, a different plan from backing off him and letting him shoot. Everton dealt with him pretty well the weekend before last, and so did Manchester United on Saturday, both times by doubling up on him. It could be Maicon and Zanetti who do a similar job for Inter tonight. Zanetti could be the key figure for Inter tonight. Not just for his experience and positioning, but for his ability to shout out: "Maicon, mind getting back and doing some bloody defending for once?"  19.29 So Harry Redknapp escaped an FA ban today. Anybody reckon that might have something to do with him being one of the few Englishmen fit to take on the national team job? And - hurrah! - no media blackout.  19.23 You've got a choice of live blogs tonight. If Manchester United v Bursaspor is more your thing, then this is your red button. Ed Ballard calling that one.  From Henry Winter: "Van der Vaart just run out, no obvious strapping on hamstring, just cycle shorts. Playing in hole off Crouch."  19.21 More team news: Carlo Cudicini deputises for the suspended Heurelho Gomes, while Inter are also without their first-choice goalkeeper, with Luca Castellazzi standing in for the injured Julio Cesar. No Cambiasso for them either, so a rare start for former Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari.  19.20 So it's welcome back to Rafael van der Vaart, making a surprise return from injury after tweaking a hamstring at Old Trafford on Saturday. I'm not sure he'll last the full 90 minutes, but Harry Redknapp rates him so highly he'll reckon getting even an hour out of him would be worth it. For the neutral, as well, it should be a fascinating watch. Can Van der Vaart do what Gareth Bale did in the San Siro two weeks ago?  19.15 Hello, good evening and well come. It's been quite an effort for everyone to get here, given the transport problems that are afflicting London this evening. But somehow, a full house has managed to assemble at White Hart Lane tonight for Tottenham Hotspur v Inter Milan in anticipation of a classic. Now, two classics in the space of two weeks would really be spoiling us. But when you put two teams as irresistibly offensive as this on a football pitch, that's often what happens. So you'll forgive me for betraying an enormous sense of excitement at tonight's game. And not least because we have an unexpected guest tonight. Let's look at tonight's teams...  Tottenham (4-4-1-1): Cudicini; Hutton, Gallas, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Huddlestone, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart; Crouch.  Subs: Pletikosa, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Keane, Palacios, Bassong, O'Hara.  Inter Milan (4-2-3-1): Castellazzi; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu; Muntari, Zanetti; Biabiany, Sneijder, Pandev; Eto'o.  Subs: Orlandoni, Cordoba, Milito, Materazzi, Coutinho, Santon, Nwankwo.
Follow live commentary of the Champions League Group A match between Tottenham    Hotspur and Inter Milan at White Hart Lane on Tuesday Nov 2 2010, kick-off    19.45 BST.