Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood still chuckle about the impromptu crisis meeting in a small room in the bowels of the San Siro.
Outside the Italians were whipping up a din. Inter Milan were four goals up at half-time, on the rampage and Tottenham were down to 10 men with goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes sent off after only eight minutes.
‘Tim said, “Take some of them off, rest them”,’ recalls Redknapp. ‘We talk about it now.’ There were games against Everton and Manchester United to come in the Premier League before the second of the group fixtures against Inter.
Gareth Bale set the San Siro alight with a second-half hat-trick against Inter Milan in 2010
Sherwood was first-team coach and there was some merit to the idea of taking off the flair, and tightening up in a damage-limitation exercise. Luka Modric had already been sacrificed in order to get Carlo Cudicini on in goal. Yet this was the first time in nearly half a century Spurs were contesting the biggest prize in European football.
‘We had a chat,’ Redknapp added. ‘We thought about it. When you’re four down with 10 men, away from home against the European champions it’s like, “Hang on, stop the clock. Let’s go home”. But I didn’t want to lose by seven or eight. We were in enough trouble as it was.’
A few yards away, behind a closed door, his players were wrestling with the demons of self-doubt.
‘We knew we were getting better as a team,’ said Peter Crouch. ‘But we got into the dressing room that night and we started asking questions. When you are losing 4-0 to Inter Milan, it’s only natural that you start to wonder whether you’re ready for the Champions League. You start to wonder whether you are cut out for this.’
Inter were 4-0 up at half time and were in a rampant mood against Harry Redknapp’s side
Redknapp made his decision and addressed his team. ‘I said, “Let’s keep going”. We tried to stay strong. We went out and then Gareth took over. If the game had gone on any longer we wouldn’t have lost. To finish 4-3 was like a victory for me. I’d never been so happy to lose.
‘That second half gave us confidence. It gave Gareth confidence. It was great for him. I’d seen him doing it in England but that was the night the rest of the world saw it as well. Everyone must have thought, “Who is this”?’
For his first, he picked up the ball inside his own half and scorched past Javier Zanetti, who, at the age of 37, wasn’t going to catch him. Bale’s sprint carried the ball into the box, where he lashed a low shot past Julio Cesar. The second was virtually identical. ‘He was running 50, 60 yards,’ said Redknapp.
Aaron Lennon set up the third with a jinking dribble and pass which was received by Bale and fired past Cesar. The first wave of Balemania began as Tottenham were inundated with requests from TV stations around the world, all searching for access to the 21-year-old. Inter coveted him for years, still linked with him this summer.
At 29, Bale is a Real Madrid icon; a winner of the Champions League in four of the last five years and three times a scorer in the final, plus a penalty in the 2016 shootout. His overhead kick sank Liverpool in Kiev. But it was at the San Siro where he was born as a European force. They are still talking about the hat-trick and this fixture brings it back to life.
Inter coveted Bale for years after his hat-trick against them in the Champions League
‘I have seen it many times,’ said Christian Eriksen as Tottenham arrived in Italy. ‘The club have good memories of Inter. Hopefully we can make our own. The perspective has changed. Then, we were fighting to get into the top six.
‘Now we are expected to play in the Champions League every season.’
In London, a fortnight after the 4-3 defeat, Redknapp was staggered to find Inter boss Rafa Benitez paid the price for turning up with no special plans to stop him. Bale, again, was exhilarating, tearing up the left flank creating chances for others and Spurs fans rejoiced and hailed a ‘Taxi for Maicon’ as he set up second-half goals for Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko to complete a 3-1 win.
Crouch said: ‘What Gareth did that night was ridiculous. He was so good. He terrorised Maicon and set two up, including one for me.’
The Welshman was exhilarating, tearing up the left flank at White Hart Lane in the return game
Redknapp’s instructions had been simple: ‘We just told them to keep giving him the ball. They were scared stiff.
‘I felt sure they would double up, or try something to stop him. Maybe get another right back in to give Maicon some protection. Gareth ran him ragged. That night, he went from the best right back in the world to the punchline for a joke. It didn’t do his reputation any good. It almost finished him, I think.’
The Brazilian reacted with good grace, saying after the match: ‘Bale is phenomenal. We have to give praise to him. He was impossible to control.’
A few days later, Bale hailed it as ‘a night that will never be forgotten’. How right he was. Tottenham went top and won the group, returning to the San Siro where they beat AC Milan in the first knockout round before going out to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
In 2013, Spurs met Inter in the Europa League under Andre Villas-Boas. They won the first leg 3-0 at White Hart Lane with Bale on target, and lost the second 4-1 after extra time. Emmauel Adebayor’s goal settled another thriller on away goals. The two teams have scored 19 in four games, but the Bale hat-trick and ‘Taxi for Maicon’ are the nights which shine on.