A self-proclaimed mercenary to a number three with a point to prove: what happened to Tottenham’s starting XI from their 2010 Champions League season?
After more near misses than Olivier Giroud in a title-decider, Tottenham Hotspur have finally returned to the promised land of the Champions League.
A series of narrow fifth place finishes, peaking with unforgettable lasagne-gate scandal, have come to define the most ‘Spursy’ of decades. In fact, even when Tottenham did manage to finally break through the glass ceiling of the top four, Chelsea’s unlikely success in Munich, 2012, dragged Harry Redknapp’s side back down to hell. In other words, the Europa League. Very ‘Spursy’ indeed.
However, as Mauricio Pochettino readies his youthful band of brothers for a plucky stab at continental domination, we look back at Spurs’ last Champions League opener, a typically entertaining 2-2 draw with now-Bundesliga-has-beens Werder Bremen in 2010.
Carlo Cudicini
One of the finest ‘keepers in the Premier League in the early noughties, Cudicini quickly slipped from first-team contention after the arrival of Petr Cech at Chelsea before playing second fiddle to both Heurelho Gomes and Brad Friedel at Spurs. Now part of countryman Antonio Conte’s backroom staff at Stamford Bridge.
Vedren Corluka
A Rolls Royce of a defender, Corluka’s composure and class convinced Spurs to snap the Croatian up after just one season under Sven Goren Erikssen at Man City. After four moderately impressive seasons at White Hart Lane, Corluka departed England for Russia and Lokomotiv Moscow. Impressive performances at Euro 2016, however, served as a nostalgic reminder of the 30-year-old’s deft quality.
Ledley King
One of the most gifted defenders in modern English football, only a succession of debilitating injuries prevented Ledley King from adding to his 21 international caps. Finally retiring in 2012, King Ledley’s desire to throw his broken body in front of any and every goalbound effort endeared him to his loyal subjects. The 2008 League Cup winning captain still represents the club in an ambassadorial role.
Younes Kaboul
Like fellow Spurs team-mates Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar, Kaboul danced to Harry Redknapp’s pied piping rhythm, following his devoted boss from White Hart Lane to Portsmouth and back again. Either inspired or insipid, the current Watford defender is rarely anonymous.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto
“It’s only a job. Yes, it’s a good, good job and I don’t say that I hate football but it’s not my passion,” left-back Assou-Ekotto told the Guardian in 2010. It’s fortunate, then, that he was rather good at it. A solid, 7/10 guarantee, the Cameroonian thrived under Harry Redknapp but quickly fell out of favour after Danny Rose’s emergence, linking up with his devoted gaffer during a doomed spell with QPR. The 32-year-old joined Metz this summer after one season with St Etienne.
Tom Huddlestone
Naturally gifted and sublimely balanced, Huddlestone’s career barely begins to reflect his ability. Back in the Premier League with Hull City after a season in the second tier, the man with the cleanest strike in football doesn’t look like adding to his four England caps any time soon.
Jermaine Jenas
At 33, Jenas should be enjoying the final stretch of an impressive career. However, stricken by a relentless injury curse, the former Newcastle starlet featured only sporadically for QPR, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest and finally gave in to inevitability in 2014. However, Jenas has retained a place in the all-too-cruel footballing world, becoming the sobering voice of reason in an often inane BBC sofa.
Aaron Lennon
Like so many of Harry Redknapp’s 2010/11 vintage, Lennon failed to live up to his career’s early hype, reduced to an impact substitute role at Everton after falling out of favour at White Hart Lane. Debuting for England as a sprightly 19-year-old ten years ago, Lennon’s effectiveness and end product never lived up to his approach play.
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Voted by his colleagues as the flop of the season in the 2014/15 Bundesliga, failing to make any sort of a mark with Real Betis, and winding down his career in the footballing doldrums of Denmark; Van Der Vaart’s 2010 pomp was about as good as it got in the later stages of a career that promised so much and delivered relatively little.
Gareth Bale
Where to begin. Still with the number three on his back, Gareth Bale was only starting to suggest that he could be something other than an erratic, defensively naïve full-back in 2010. Yet, just a few weeks in to the new season, Bale single-handedly lay siege to the Inter Milan defence, netting a stunning hat-trick away at the European Champions. Gareth Bale had arrived.
Peter Crouch
Rarely has one player divided opinion quite like Peter Crouch. 22 goals in 42 England caps may be a remarkable tally, but a single major trophy in a top flight career spanning 12 years proves that Crouch, despite his obvious talents, was never considered a ‘top, top player’. Except by one man in particular. Crouch netted seven times in Spurs’ remarkable Champions League run in 2010/11, including the winner away at AC Milan.
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