5 Champions League group stages matches you must not miss

#4 Tottenham vs Inter Milan

A young Gareth Bale starred against Inter Milan

Dates: First leg- 18/09/2018 (Estadio San Siro), Second Leg- 28/11/2018 (Wembley Stadium)

What's the story? A bit of revenge perhaps

Back at the start of the 2010/2011 season, Inter Milan were the swagger team of Europe, having just become the first Italian club to achieve the unique distinction of winning the treble of Serie A, Champions League and Coppa Italia the season before. Maicon was also undoubtedly the premier right-back in Europe, so the Italian team were expected to top their group also containing Twente, Werder Bremen and Tottenham with ease.

Elsewhere, fans of Tottenham were also on a high, with the club performing in its first ever Champions league campaign curtsy its fourth place finish the season before, and not too many people would have been optimistic of their chances when they came up against the defending European Champions.

However, the Spurs players must have failed to read the script, as they put in memorable performances over both legs against superior opposition which belied their continental inexperience.

A certain 21-year-old Gareth Bale, who up until that time was still struggling to establish himself in the Tottenham lineup started the match at left-back and came up against the aforementioned Maicon in what many believed would be an uneven match.

However, Bale defied all odds, and put in one of the most memorable individual displays in Champions League history by scoring a hat-trick in Tottenham's 4-3 first leg loss at the San Siro, with many believing it was his performance on that night which paved the way for his conversion into a forward by Harry Redknapp which has yielded tremendous benefits. Gareth Bale ran roughshod over the more experienced Maicon, and the Brazilian's career was never the same after that.

Tottenham players rallied from the narrow loss a fortnight later, winning Inter 3-1 at White Hart Lane with goals from Rafa Van der Vaart, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko which condemned Inter Milan to second place in the group.

Fast forward to the present day, and both teams have markedly different fortunes, with the roles reversed and Tottenham the favorites owing to their impressive trajectory in recent seasons, while Inter Milan have declined since the crescendo of 2010.

Barcelona are one of the favorites for the title, hence would be expected to top the group. This might well see Spurs and Inter battling it out for second place, and it is a battle no one would want to miss.