Inter captain Javier Zanetti became the oldest ever Champions League scorer as the reigning champions edged out 10-man Tottenham 4-3 in a thriller at the San Siro last night.
This really was a tale of two halves as Inter romped to a 4-0 lead before the break while Gareth Bale scored a stunning second-half hat-trick, two of his goals coming in the last minute.
Samuel Eto’o notched a brace and Dejan Stankovic added the fourth, all before half-time, before Bale’s brilliant solo cameo while Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was dismissed after just eight minutes.
Inter now lead Group A by three points from Harry Redknapp’s team ahead of the pair’s meeting at White Hart Lane in two weeks’ time.
This was the day, though, when Spurs’ Champions League education truly began as they paid for every mistake they made in a disastrous first 45 minutes. The game was over within a quarter of an hour as Spurs trailed 3-0 and were down to 10 men.
Zanetti’s goal was his first in the Champions League since February 2008. It made him the oldest ever Champions League scorer at 37 years and 71 days.
Bale expressed his disappointment at Spurs’ first-half showing but said they would learn from their mistakes.
“We were sloppy in the first half, we’re not really sure what happened,” he said.
“There are a lot of positives to take from the second half, we kept the ball well. But we’re disappointed to have lost the game.”
Lionel Messi scored his third and fourth Champions League goals of the season with a brace as Barcelona beat Copenhagen 2-0 at the Camp Nou to leapfrog the Danes into top spot in Group D.
Messi scored a fine long-range opener on 19 minutes and a stoppage time tap-in as Barcelona inflicted a first group defeat on surprise package Copenhagen.
The Catalans go top a point above the Danish side who had won their first two group games.
It was from comfortable for the 2009 champions who had some hairy moments at 1-0 as they failed to kill off the match.
Nani winner
Manchester United shrugged off the disappointment of Wayne Rooney’s imminent departure to defeat Turkish side Bursaspor 1-0.
A sublime first-half goal from Portuguese international Nani clinched victory for Alex Ferguson’s men on a day when events off the pitch dominated the headlines at Old Trafford.
The victory left the English giants comfortably on course to qualify from Group C, with seven points from three games.
Yet, if Ferguson had been looking for a stirring response from his players after Rooney accused United of lacking ambition in a statement released shortly before kick-off, the veteran Scottish manager would have been disappointed.
While United dominated possession for long periods, a starting midfield featuring Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Anderson was rarely able to conjure up the guile to break down the Turkish champions.
Meanwhile, Lyon confirmed their recent revival with a 2-0 victory at home to Benfica that sent them three points clear.
A header from Jimmy Briand set Lyon on their way and, after Nicolas Gaitan had been sent off for Benfica, Lisandro Lopez sealed victory shortly after the interval.
Spain striker Raul also made history last night as Schalke kept up their hopes with a 3-1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Raul, 33, opened the scoring after just three minutes and it gave him his 67th goal in the Champions League before he added a second to take his overall tally to a record 70 in all European competitions – two ahead of Milan veteran Filippo Inzaghi.
Summaries
Inter 4
Zanetti 2; Eto 11 pen, 35; Stankovic 14;
Tottenham 3
Bale 52, 90, 90+1;
Red card: Gomes (T) 8;
Twente 1
Janssen 75;
W. Bremen 1
Arnautovic 80;
Schalke 04 3
Raul 3, 58; Jurado 68;
H. Tel Aviv 1
Shechter 90;
Lyon 2
Briand 22; Lisandro 51;
Benfica 0
Red card: Gaitan (B) 44;
Rangers 1
Edu 34;
Valencia 1
Edu 46 og;
Man. United 1
Nani 7;
Bursaspor 0
P’thinaikos 0
R. Kazan 0
Barcelona 2
Messi 19, 90;
Copenhagen 0