Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Glorious Tottenham make art of survival a thing of real beauty
This was the night Tottenham Hotspur came of age as a Champions League club. Not because they outplayed AC Milan; they didn't. Not because they played as well as they have done in Europe this season; they can do better. Not even because this is as good as it gets; looking at some of the teams in the quarter-finals, who knows where this trip ends? [LNB]This was the night Tottenham came of age because every successful European team needs to be able to turn in a result like this; on the night and on aggregate. [LNB] Bootiful: Milan keeper Abbiati takes it on the chin from Van der Vaart's shot[LNB]The most slender victory over two legs without recourse to penalties and a goalless draw to close out the tie. [LNB]It may have flown in the face of everything this club aspires to, but it will go down as one of the great nights at White Hart Lane. And there have been a few to choose from. Yes, I know, aren't we forgetting something? A little matter of a 3-1 win over Inter Milan on November 2. An incendiary exhibition of football so devastating and cavalier it became the talk of the European game overnight. Wasn't that superior to this in every way? [LNB]Well, yes and no. It was, of course, a much finer performance in terms of attacking wit, energy and excitement. It confirmed Gareth Bale's status as one of the most thrilling young footballers in Europe and made Harry Redknapp the manager elect of England after the 2012 European Championship. Yet there remained something wild and maverick about it. This is all very well, said the wise old heads, but what is going to happen when they need to hold out for a draw? [LNB] Holding pattern: Thiago Silva and Crouch tangle on a frustrating night for the Spurs striker[LNB]How will they cope with the dour and dirty side of a European campaign? Clinging on, defending to the death, playing the percentages. Now we know. Better than anybody could have expected. Tottenham did not go toe to toe or end to end against AC Milan; rather, this was a dull affair, the antithesis of the last Milanese visit to these parts. [LNB]Tottenham had one goal attempt on target and only 42 per cent possession in the game. Yet in so many other ways, they were supreme. [LNB]They defended brilliantly. Sandro was an outstanding shield in midfield, Peter Crouch a stalwart upfront. The crowd called and cheered for Bale, introduced after 65 minutes, but when he arrived this was not the firecracker that as good as changed the public perception of Brazilian right-back Maicon forever. [LNB]Bale, who will need a few weeks to return to the peak of match fitness, played a diligent, conservative role, aware first of his defensive duties. In boring the pants off those at home expecting another high-octane spectacle, Tottenham demonstrated unsuspected depth. [LNB] Banter: A Spurs fan mocks Arsenal's defeat to Barcelona[LNB]Who knew they had this in them? Seriously, who would have wagered on the 0-0 draw, or the 1-0 aggregate win against the runaway leaders of Serie A? There is a world of difference in playing a team that knows exactly what it has to do to progress, as Arsenal discovered in the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.[LNB] AC Milan arrived understanding they had to win to survive and looked a different team to the one that disappointed in the first leg. The expectation was for Tottenham to follow their instincts and match them; they were far cuter than that. [LNB]Partners in crime: Tottenham defenders' Gallas and Dawson celebrate at the final whistle [LNB]Their supply lines cut by intelligent work from Kevin Prince Boateng and Mathieu Flamini, Tottenham instead regrouped around solid principles of resistance and dug in for the long haul.[LNB] It was not a totally one-sidedaffair, Milan are not good enough to take an English team ofsignificance apart as Barcelona did, but for long periods Tottenhamwere content to absorb and negate Milan's three-pronged forward line. [LNB]There were some hairy moments on theway, many the work of goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. Always unpredictable,last night his performance echoed Homer Simpson's description ofalcohol. 'The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems,' hesays.[LNB] Gomes was a bit like that. Oneminute he would rush out rashly to smother a break by Pato, missing thechallenge before being rescued by William Gallas on the line, the nexthe would rise commandingly to pluck a cross from mid-air underpressure. [LNB]The tension was written on every brow, not least that of Redknapp, wholooked mentally drained by the end and hurried down the tunnel barelytaking in the scenes of jubilation. Once everyone had breathed out,however, the reality became apparent. [LNB]Thesituation had given greater cause for concern than the attackingcapability of Milan. It was what Tottenham stood to lose that createdthe pressure, not the Italians. [LNB] Milan are ordinary. It is not hard to score against Tottenham. Wolverhampton Wanderers did it three times on Sunday. Yet in three hours of football, including 90 minutes at home and another 90 when a goal was an absolute imperative, they could not manage it. [LNB] Going through: Tottenham clinched their place in the last eight with a gritty 0-0 draw against AC Milan [LNB]This was partly because Gallas and Michael Dawson were in top form in central defence, but also because Serie A is an increasingly mediocre competition and its best team is by nature ponderous. [LNB]They played with greater urgency here out of necessity, but it was not their natural game. That makes two of them, because this was foreign territory for Tottenham, too. They do not do dogged. Not instinctively. And yet two of their greatest results under Redknapp - in the first leg here and to reach the tournament by beating Manchester City away last season - have been 1-0 wins, and this goalless draw showed a side of the team that many thought did not exist.[LNB] 'I'm probably not your man for a 0-0 draw in Ukraine,' Kevin Keegan said on taking the England job and Redkapp is cut from the same cloth. Yet, with Shakhtar Donetsk among the quarter-finalists, maybe he will surprise us again. [LNB]Tottenham are growing in stature in this competition, growing in experience. Nobody made an indulgent error like that of Cesc Fabregas, undermining all of Arsenal's good work in the Nou Camp. Nobody put themselves, or their freedom to express, before the needs of the whole. The last English manager to reach the last eight of this competition? Incredibly it was Terry Venables with Barcelona in 1986. To do it with an English club? Liverpool's Joe Fagan in 1985. It is not just Redknapp's club that is breaking new ground.[LNB] Harrylujah! Spurs boss Redknapp salutes fantastic victory over Milan with a cuppaTottenham 0 AC Milan 0: Harry's heroes hold on for glory as Spurs clinch last eight spot White Hart Lane Match Zone: How Harry's boys completed the Italian job Tottenham v Milan: Player ratings from the Champions League clash at White Hart LaneCHAMPIONS LEAGUE LIVE: Tottenham 0 AC Milan 0 - the action from White Hart Lane as it happenedAll the latest Tottenham Hotspur news, features and opinion [LNB] Explore more:People: William Gallas, Kevin Keegan, Harry Redknapp, Michael Dawson, Peter Crouch, Gareth Bale, Maicon Places: Barcelona, Liverpool, Milan, United Kingdom, Europe
