Champions League full time report - Inter Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur
It was a fanatic end to an extraordinary match at the San Siro; Tottenham Hotspurs were completely outplayed and outclassed in the first half by the defending champions, Inter Milan as they went in at 4-0. The English side though
was able to restore some pride and in the end could have salvaged a point from it as Gareth Bale smashed an unbelievable hat trick in the 2nd half to end the match at 4-3.
The first 13 minutes of the match were actually the ones that cost Spurs the match; Javier Zanetti was the man who started the move for the first goal right in the 3rd minute of the match. He sent in a pass for Samuel
Eto'o and after a neat one-two between them Zanetti fired it in to open the goal scoring.
A minute later it got worse for Tottenham, Wesley Sneijder played in a ball for Jonathan Biabiany who made his way into the box and looked through on goal, but was brought down by Heurelho Gomes. The Spurs keeper was given a straight
red and off he went.
Luka Modric was sacrificed and in came Carlo Cudicini to stop the Eto’o penalty, but it was never going to be easy and so it proved. It was 2 nil for Inter Milan. Very soon it became 3 nil.
Maicon made a brilliant pass and laid it up for Dejan Stankovic just outside the box, and after playing a neat one-two with Stankovic slotted it in easily.
It became four before the break as Coutinho played a brilliant ball to Samuel Eto'o inside penalty area. The former Barcelona man beat William Gallas and poked the ball under Carlo Cudicini to make it 4 nil before the break.
The 2nd half must have sounded like an eternity to Spurs players as they were about to come out on the pitch, trailing Inter Milan by 4 goals and down to 10 men. But, that is not exactly how it panned out.
Gareth Bale, it seemed was on a one man mission to rescue some pride for his team. Bale showed his top quality to an Italian audience as he collected a pass just over halfway and ran at pace at the Inter defence, beating off Javier
Zanetti and a sliding Walter Samuel and arrowed a left-foot shot into the far corner all along the floor from 18 yards. It was a cracking goal and there was something to cheer about for Spurs’ fans.
Inter Milan manager Rafael Benitez decided to make a change, and sent on Goran Pandev for Cristian Chivu.
Soon after that, there was almost a replay of Spurs’ first goal. Gareth Bale collected a pass 15 yards inside the Inter half, held off Javier Zanetti, and from just inside the area smashed another left-foot shot into the far corner.
All of a sudden there was life back in the match with the scoreline reading 4-2.
4-2 is what it should have ended with as many had thought, but it was about to get even more exciting. Once again it was Gareth Bale's awesome left foot; the Welshman bagged a hat trick. He was teed up 15 yards out, on the left
of the area once more, and again he smacked it past Julio Cesar into the far post. It was unbelievable but just few seconds after the third goal, the final whistle blew and the match ended 4-3. However it should give plenty of heart to Tottenham for the return
match when Inter visit Tottenham in 2 weeks time.
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