Tottenham Hotspur FC

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• Manager:Harry Redknapp

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Harry: No Champions League surprise

26 Aug 2010 - 07:14:59

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Harry Redknapp claimed he always felt Tottenham were capable of Champions League football after a 4-0 thrashing of Young Boys booked their place in the lucrative group stages of the competition.

Peter Crouch's hat-trick and another goal from Jermain Defoe secured a 6-3 aggregate play-off victory over the Swiss side on Wednesday evening.

Spurs began the second leg needing to overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit following a surprise defeat last week, but Redknapp claimed he never fretted about the outcome of the tie.

The likes of AC Milan and Real Madrid could now play at White Hart Lane with the north London club set to learn their group stage fate at Thursday's draw.

Redknapp took over a struggling squad two years ago but believes it was always a real possibility that Spurs would return to Europe's premier club competition.

"I always felt it was possible," he said. "Tottenham were a club which had underachieved for a long time.

"The potential was here if we could get the players - and it is not as if I have bought a new team - it was just about instilling a bit of confidence, getting them playing and maybe changing their attitude in some cases.

"They responded and we have ended up where we have."

Meanwhile, Redknapp has revealed that Defoe might not now require surgery on a groin injury which was pencilled in for later this week.

"Now he is saying he might not need it," he explained.

"We are in the hands of the medical people, but he said he did not feel anything tonight."