Tottenham 4 Young Boys 0 (agg 6-3):Last week in Bern may have been a bit of a horror show for Harry Redknapp's Spurs side but they put things right at White Hart Lane tonight to book their place in the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history.
Memories of the rather fortuitous 3-2 defeat in Switzerland last week faded fast at the Lane as Peter Crouch got the first of his three goals in the fifth minute. A dubious second from Jermain Defoe, which came after a seemingly clear handball by the England striker, left the visitors requiring two to progress.
Crouch’s double in a dominant second half quashed all hope and sent Spurs back to the big time after a 48 year absence. It may also mean a little spending money for Redknapp before the transfer window closes in five days time.
“This is massive, we played extremely well and we deserved the bonus of Champions League football,” Crouch told ITV1. “That’s why we worked so hard last season. We want massive games. We want Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
“You don’t know how good you are until you play against the best.”
Defoe, who is set for an injury lay-off after postponing an operation to take part in the match, added: “All the hard work we put in last season has paid off now. This means the world to us.
“It’s all about Champions League football. We know we can play on this stage.”
Redknapp stressed Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane still has a future at the club but told RTE that if the Dubliner wants to leave and a club were interested the situation would be different.
Spurs will be third seeds in tomorrow's draw for the group stages in Monaco, so getting to the second round will not be easy.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal will all be among the top seeds but they could still find themselves facing Real Madrid in the group stage.
The trio are among eight clubs in the top pot meaning they will avoid the likes of champions Inter Milan, Barcelona and beaten finalists Bayern Munich.
However Real Madrid are only in the second pot of eight clubs and would provide stiff opposition in the group phase, as would fellow Spanish side Valencia and Werder Bremen.
Spurs are alongside Rangers in pot three.
Uefa's rules for the draw will see the 32 qualified teams allocated into eight groups of four teams. Each group will contain a top seed, plus one club each from the second, third and fourth pots.
Each pot is determined by a club's Uefa coefficient but even the fourth pot contains some teams others would hope to avoid such as Spartak Moscow and Dutch champions FC Twente, the side Steve McClaren managed until he moved to Wolfsburg.
No sides from the same country can play each other before the quarter-finals.
Pots for Champions League group stage draw
Pot one:Inter Milan, Barcelona, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon.
Pot two:Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos.
Pot three:Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow.
Pot four:Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor.