Soccer – Champions League Round-up:Holders Inter Milan slumped to their first Champions League defeat of the season, going down 3-1 after an outstanding attacking performance from Tottenham Hotspur. Elsewhere Manchester United put on a second half performance to comfortably defeat Bursaspor.
Spurs’ opened their account in the 18th minute through Dutchman Rafael Van der Vaart before second-half efforts by Peter Crouch and substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko, both laid on by flying winger Gareth Bale, sealed the win.
Bale followed up his hat-trick in Spurs's 4-3 defeat at Inter two weeks ago with another stunning display.
Inter replied with an 80th-minute goal from Samuel Eto'o but it could not stop Spurs joining the champions on seven points at the top of the Group A table.
There was a real air of expectancy at White Hart Lane for the visit of the European champions and the Spurs fans were buoyed before kickoff when Van der Vaart was declared fit after tweaking a hamstring on Saturday.
Besides scoring the opening goal he was also at the heart of most of Spurs attacks during a 45-minute appearance before going off at halftime.
He linked superbly with Luka Modric and the impressive Tom Huddlestone as Spurs were first to every loose ball and carried the game to Inter.
Inter had the first chance when Eto'o went narrowly wide after eight minutes and that proved to be their best chance until two minutes before the break when keeper Carlo Cudicini tipped a superb free-kick from Wesley Sneijder over the bar.
Despite those chances, Spurs dominated and Crouch should have scored after 26 minutes but somehow screwed his angled shot wide with the Inter defence in disarray.
Spurs maintained their dominance after the break to record a memorable victory.
FC Twentesnatched a 2-0win at Werder Bremenin the other Group A match, scoring twice in the last nine minutes after the Germans were reduced to 10 men.
Nacer Chadli's deflected shot gave the Dutch club the lead in the 81st minute, six minutes after Bremen captain Torsten Frings was sent off. Luuk de Jong then sealed the win with six minutes to go.
Bremen dominated until Frings's red card, wasting a dozen clear chances and hitting the post through Hugo Almeida. The win gives Twente five points from four games while the Germans are bottom on two.
Manchester Unitedmoved to the brink of qualifying for the last 16 after second-half goals from Darren Fletcher, Gabriel Obertan and Bebe sealed a 3-0romp away to Bursaspor.
Fletcher, who made his 50th Champions League appearance, drove a pass from Michael Carrick low past the keeper to give United the lead in the 48th minute.
Obertan, who had helped set up the first goal, then claimed a second in the 73rd minute with a powerful shot from a ball by Park Ji-Sung.
A bad lapse in concentration by the Bursaspor defence allowed Paul Scholes to pass to substitute Bebe who lashed in a third goal four minutes later.
Roberto Soldado scored twice for Valenciain a 3-0win at home to Rangersthat boosted their chances of qualifying from Group C.
The striker scored an opportunist goal at a corner after 33 minutes and then raced away on a counter-attack in the 71st to seal the victory for the Spanish side. Tino Costa added a third at the end.
Rangers twice hit the woodwork through Steven Naismith, but slipped to their first defeat in any competition this season.
Valencia moved up to second in the group behind Manchester United with seven points from four games, two ahead of third-placed Rangers with two left to play.
Barcelonamissed a chance to qualify for the last 16 when they were held to a 1-1draw by a well-organised and aggressive FC Copenhagenin Group D.
Barca's prolific Argentina forward Lionel Messi put the La Liga giants ahead in the 31st minute in the Danish capital, netting his fifth of the competition with a rare right-foot shot that Johan Wiland could only palm on to a post and in.
The hosts were level a minute later when Wiland's opposite number Victor Valdes deflected a Jesper Gronkjaer cross into the path of Claudemir and the midfielder volleyed into the net with the ball taking a slight deviation off defender Eric Abidal.
Barca came agonisingly close to securing the win that would have sent them through when substitute Pedro hit the post with a curled effort from the corner of the penalty area in stoppage time. They top the group on eight points and Copenhagen are second on seven with four of six matches played.
Greek side Panathinaikosfrustrated Rubin Kazanagain with another scrappy 0-0draw in the other Group D game, two weeks after holding the Russian champions in Athens.
The two teams cancelled each other out, creating little danger in front of the goal and spending most of their energy on trying to shut down the opposition. The visitors withstood a furious assault by the home side late in the match, twice clearing the ball off the line.
The draw left both teams with only a slim chance of reaching the knockout round.
Midfielder Carlos Martins created four goals as Benficasurvived a late fightback to beat Lyon 4-3in their Group B match, reviving their hopes of reaching the next round.
Martins's tense free kick into the crowded Lyon box allowed striker Alan Kardec to tower over the defence to head in for the Portuguese champions' opening goal on 20 minutes. He then fed Fabio Coentrao for the second after a flowing counterattack.
Martins, who has been on fine form this season and made a return to the Portugal squad, was also involved in the third, his corner to the first post allowed Javi Garcia to head in three minutes before the break.
From another counter attack Martins sent Coentrao through and he scored with a delightful lob in the 67th minute before Yoan Gourcouff and substitutes Bafetimbi Gomis and Dejan Lovren pulled three back for the French side.
Israel's Hapoel Tel Avivheld German visitors Schalke 04to a goalless drawat home in the other group B clash to gain their first point in the competition after three defeats.
Although missing leading striker Etey Shechter through a leg injury, forwards Toto Tamuz and Ben Sahar created a number of chances but failed to convert.
Some frantic defending by the home team ensured that Hapoel gained their first point in the group stages but that was not enough to lift them off the bottom of the standings.
Champions League Results
Group A
Tottenham 3 Inter Milan 1
Werder Bremen 0 FC Twente 2
Group B
Benfica 4 Lyon 3
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0 Schalke 04 0
Group C
Bursaspor 0 Man Utd 3
Valencia 3 Rangers 0
Group D
FC Copenhagen 1 Barcelona 1
Rubin Kazan 0 Panathinaikos 0