Milan memories | 2011 | Crouchy's the hero at the San Siro

What a night at the San Siro, 12 years ago tomorrow - 15 February, 2011.

Having finished fourth in the Premier League in 2009/10, thanks to Peter Crouch's winner against Manchester City at the Etihad, our first-ever Champions League campaign was one to remember, led by Crouchy, who not only got us there, but scored a hat-trick in the play-off to get us into the group stage, scored our first-ever 'proper' Champions League goal in our group stage opener against Werder Bremen, was on target on that night of all nights, our 3-1 win against defending champions Inter at the Lane and then the highlight, the winner against Milan in our first knockout match at the San Siro.

Top of Serie A at the time, the home side were packed with superstars, the likes of Nesta, Thiago Silva, Gattuso, Seedorf, Robinho and Ibrahimovic. Yet we'd approached the competition with a fearless streak, scored goals galore in the group stage, and that fearlessness continued on the biggest stage, our first knockout match.

Don't forget, this was our second visit to the San Siro that season. In the first, we trailed 4-0 at half-time and were down to 10 men against Inter before Gareth Bale's unforgettable hat-trick almost produced the most unlikely of comebacks.

There was to be no first half repeat this time around as we had the better of the openig period with Rafa van der Vaart close on three occasions. Milan picked up after the break and forced Heurelho Gomes into two saves, then the game threatened to boil over as Mathieu Flamini chopped down Vedran Corluka, who was forced off. Gomes was there again to deny Mario Yepes before Crouchy's moment 10 minutes from time as Aaron Lennon sped away from Yepes and squared for the striker to tap home. Magical memories in Milan!

Peter Crouch

Speaking to tottenhamhotspur.com back in 2016, Crouchy reflected: "AC Milan was special, the only goal of the game, Gattuso and Joe Jordan and all that going on, Flamini's giving it some to the crowd, it was a proper hostile atmosphere. Aaron Lennon did brilliantly, rolled the ball into my path and to get he winning goal was amazing. You don't think about it at the time but looking back at it I was a little calmer than I would have been if I had a bit more time to think about it! I've got a photo at home, framed, it's Pato and Ibrahimovic, they're about to kick off and I'm still celebrating with the boys! It's a great photo."

Watch - Crouchy's top 3 Spurs goals

Michael Dawson

Michael was captain that night at the San Siro. Speaking recently to SPURSPLAY, he said: "Earlier in the season, I'd played the play-off games against Young Boys, but then I got injured playing for England, so to have to watch the group stage was a major disappointment, but coming back for the knockout stages, it doesn't get any better than going to the San Siro and beating AC Milan. We were underdogs, but what a night. To captain the team was an honour. Then you look at Milan - Seedorf, Robinho, Zlatan - they were full of superstars. We were going there for our first Champions League knockout match, and we were magnificent. The goal... Aaron Lennon ran down the right, that speed, beat a couple of players, great pass to Crouchy and he did the rest. We were holding on at the end, then we had Joe Jordan and Gattuso. It was a night you don't forget, to win 1-0 there, and it was a sign of where we'd grown collectively and individually, and that was down to Harry (Redknapp) as well, he got the best out of us."

Daws on Milan and our Champions League run of 2010/11