Spurs Shocker

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Tottenham 1-0 AC Milan

80'- Crouch

It was a wild evening at the San Siro, as a match chalk-full of hard tackles, physical altercations, and a massive late goal for visiting Tottenham made for plenty of talking points.

In the end, it was a match that could have gone either way, and looked headed for a 0-0 draw late on. But a fine bit of counterattacking football helped the visitors to just the type of result they dreamed of before taking the pitch. Now they head back to White Hart Lane with a lead in the tie after a fine performance in Milan.

Spurs looked poised and confident throughout the match, and even had the hosts rattled and frustrated for much of the 90 minutes. Surprisingly, it was Tottenham that looked the more experienced of the two teams, as Milan lost their cool in the second half while Harry Redknapp's team defended well and pounced on their one opportunity for victory.

The match featured plenty of action, but there wasn't much to discuss until the second half.

It was Spurs that controlled the proceedings in a scrappy first 45. However, they failed to create any serious chances aside from a few long distance efforts courtesy of Rafael van der Vaart.

Meanwhile, Milan were dreadful in the first half. The service from the midfield was non-existent, as Ibrahimovic and Robinho had little to work with, while the ever-dangerous Pato started the match on the bench.

Massimiliano Allegri signaled his intent to attack by substituting Pato into the match for Clarence Seedorf to start the second half.

Van der Vaart nearly scored a spectacular goal early in the half when he chipped substitute keeper Marco Amelia from 20-yards. The chip had the Italian beaten, but landed just wide of the right post.

Soon after, Mario Yepes came desperately close to putting the Rossoneri in front. His header appeared headed for goal after a nice cross from Gennaro Gattuso. But Heurelho Gomes made a stunning save, as his lightning-quick reactions saw him push the ball over the bar.

With Milan pressing forward, the match began to open up. And a major altercation soon after only further stirred the pot.

It all started when Mathieu Flamini took out the legs of Vedran Corluka with a two-footed tackle at midfield. Although replays showed Corluka had managed to avoid the brunt of the challenge, the Frenchman's malicious tackle got enough of him to force a substitution. Flamini received a yellow for the challenge, and things got chippy when he and van der Vaart exchanged words at midfield as AC players accosted the referee and tried to pull the injured Corluka to his feet so play could continue.

Gattuso, no stranger to a game of physicality, simply snapped thereafter. First he shoved Peter Crouch after the two collided post-whistle, then he had a go at Tottenham assistant Joe Jordan during a stoppage. He would finally receive a yellow for a dangerous challenge in the 76th, ruling him out of the second leg in London.

Buoyed on by the home crowd, the home team pressed relentlessly, while Redknapp told his team to defend, playing everyone but Peter Crouch behind the ball.

But a little bit of space was all Aaron Lennon needed to help give Spurs a shock lead in the 80th. It all started after Milan gave the ball away in the Tottenham final third, and Modric poked the ball up to the speedy Englishman, who took off with acres of space in front of him. The winger scurried up the right side into the Milan half, then touched the ball around a slide tackling Yepes, before quickly finding Crouch in front of goal for an easy finish.

Milan almost grabbed the equalizer on two different occasions in stoppage time. First Robinho nearly beat Dawson and Gomes to a ball inside the 6 after the two miscommunicated and let the ball fall between them. Then Ibrahimovic appeared to have scored spectacularly after blasting a Rooney-esque bicycle kick into the corner. But referee Stephane Lannoy made a big decision by ruling that the Swede had pushed off on Dawson. Replays would show that the call was correct.

It looked like things might boil over during the match. But it turned out that wouldn't happen until after the final whistle. A frustrated Gattuso returned to Jordan after the match, and the two went eye-to-eye. In a moment of complete madness, the Italian head-butted the assistant and an altercation between the two teams ensued for a few moments before cooler heads prevailed. That wasn't the case for Gattuso, and several players had to hold him back minutes after the initial altercation.

Opinion

The win was of the historic variety for Spurs. And they deserve a massive amount of credit for it. Van der Vaart and William Gallas were the only starters with any experience in these sort of matches. But you wouldn't have known that from the performance. The Whites withstood the pressure of an incredibly intense match in front of 80,000 fans, and had to hold off a barrage of attacks from ACM before netting the crucial away goal.

Center half Dawson didn't look out of place in the biggest match of his career, while backup center mids Sandro and Palacios controlled the match.

Milan couldn't be happy that the winning goal came when they were looking their most dangerous. But the road side certainly deserved it on the whole, as the match went exactly according to plan.

The work rate in the first half was top notch, as Spurs hassled the slower duo of Gattuso and Seedorf in the middle, didn't let Robinho into any dangerous areas, and possessed the ball enough to make Milan's defense work, too.

They tried to attack in the second half. But ended up on the defensive, where they were able to effectively stifle the Milan offense.

We're talking about an inexperienced team facing a veteran-laden squad that's currently sitting atop Serie A. And guess what? Rednknapp's bunch looked not just to be the better of the two sides over the full 90 minutes, but the more composed one as well. There's something to be said for that.

Spurs now are the favorites to move on to the quarterfinals. And you can't count them out in terms of going deep into the competition. When they defend well, everything falls into place for a team that has attacking quality all throughout the squad.

There are still 90 minutes to be played. But after what we saw on Tuesday, you'd have to think this tie is Tottenham's for the taking.