10 for 10: Our games of the decade – 2011

What a decade! Book-ended by incredible performances and hat-tricks in the Champions League, it’s been an amazing 10 years for the Club we all love – all culminating in the historic move to our world-class new stadium and the Champions League Final in 2019.

What games have defined the decade? There are too many to mention, from that triumphant night at the Etihad in May, 2010, to walking out at the Wanda Metropolitana in Madrid in June, 2019, via that night at the Amsterdam Arena and the opening of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It’s a decade that has seen it all at Spurs and in this special festive feature over 10 parts, we’ve selected our matches of the past 10 years. It’s not a definitive list – as we all know, the game is about opinions – but here’s our take on the 2010s. Here’s to the 2020s!

10 for 10 - 2011

AC Milan 0-1 Spurs
Champions League, Round of 16, first leg
San Siro, 15 February, 2011

If our first campaign in the Champions League was a rollercoaster, this was the peak. A thriller in the pouring rain at one of Europe's footballing cathedrals, settled by a player who came through our Academy system.

Peter Crouch can reel off key moments for us in the Champions League, from the goal that got us there in the first place at City, to a hat-trick in the second leg of the play-off and then further strikes in the group stage against Werder Bremen, twice and in that memorable 3-1 win against Inter.

But this was the knockout phase. This was AC Milan at the San Siro - Nesta, Gattuso, Thiago Silva, Seedorf, Robinho, Ibrahimovic - and this was another win that had the rest of Europe looking a little closer at N17.

We took the game to Milan in the first half and Rafa van der Vaart went close twice, Crouch and the pace of Aaron Lennon down the right causing all sorts of problems.

Heurelho Gomes stood up when needed with two point-blank saves from Mario Yepes before the moment we all remember. Lennon broke away, skipped past Yepes' last-ditch 'challenge' and squared to Crouch, who swept home, 80 minutes on the clock. It was the goal that ultimately took us into the quarter-final of the Champions League at our first attempt.

It wasn't over there though - Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a late overhead kick disallowed for a push on Michael Dawson and Gattuso deciced to target Harry Redknapp's coach Joe Jordan for a bust-up on the final whistle. It was over three weeks later with a goalless draw in the second leg at the Lane.

Team: Gomes, Corluka (Woodgate 59), Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Sandro, Pienaar (Kranjcar 76), van der Vaart (Modric 62), Crouch.

Other contenders...

15/5/11 - Liverpool 0-2 Spurs - Our first win at Anfield since 1998.
18/9/11 - Spurs 4-0 Liverpool - The Reds again, this time taken apart at the Lane.