Tottenham Hotspur's history is steeped with many memorable European nights, whether it be the thrashing of Atletico Madrid in the 1963 UEFA Cup final or their most recent taste of success against Anderlecht in Brussels three decades ago.

In recent years the North London outfit have had to settle for less glamorous ties in the long and drawn-out Europa League, with quarter-final meetings against Sevilla and Basel about as good as things have got in Europe's secondary competition.

One-off victories against Milan giants Inter and AC in the 2010-11 season made the battle to reach the Champions League worthwhile for Spurs supporters, but it was on this day in 2013 when everything seemed to click together as they stormed past Inter Milan once more.

The 2010 European champions finished as Serie A runners-up the season prior to this memorable clash at White Hart Lane, although despite still being the most successful side in Italian football over the past decade, their decline was already clear to see at this point.

Arriving in the English capital for the last-16 first-leg tie, Inter would have already been sick of the sight of Gareth Bale, the Welshman having produced one of the all-time great individual performances to bag himself a hat-trick at San Siro in 2010.

In the end, that treble, although one to savour for the travelling Spurs fans, was merely a consolation after the Nerazzurri had raced four ahead inside the opening 35 minutes.

It was Bale who came back to haunt Andrea Stramaccioni's charges once more a few years on, opening the scoring in North London inside just six minutes with a fine looping header to bag his 21st goal of the campaign.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, the provider for Bale's opener, added a second with less than 20 minutes played to put the Lilywhites on their way to a huge victory.

Inter struggled to get out of their own half due to constant pressure from the hosts, and when Jan Vertonghen scored number three shortly after the restart, it looked as though Tottenham could well and truly humiliate the Serie A side.

It would remain at 3-0, though, with the one big blight on Spurs' big night being the yellow card picked up by Bale, who had to sit out the return leg in Milan.

Of course, this was only half the story, with the second leg seeing the six-time European winners take the game into extra time on the back of a 3-0 victory of their own.

Emmanuel Adebayor's goal in added time proved enough for Harry Redknapp's men to progress through, however, where they went on to face Basel in the last eight.

A penalty shootout defeat signalled the end of their campaign on the continent for another season, but the memories of the night they took a true heavyweight of the game apart on their home turf still lives long in the memory.

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Vertonghen, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Dembele, Parker, Lennon, Sigurdsson, Bale; Defoe

Inter: Handanovic; Zanetti, Ranocchia, Chivu, Juan Jesus; Gargano, Cambiasso; Alvarez, Kovacic; Alvaro Pereira, Cassano