Spurs waste chance to get Euro campaign off to a flier

Tottenham look set for a rollercoaster first season of Champions League football after surviving another topsy-turvy night on the continent.

In what was almost a mirror image of their play-off round first leg at Young Boys, Spurs romped into a two-goal lead at Werder Bremen and could easily have been three or four up before half-time.

But a suicidal four-minute spell either side of the restart turned their Group A encounter on its head and they could have easily returned to London empty-handed.

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In the end, a 2-2 draw was just about what both sides deserved as Spurs learnt another valuable lesson about the harsh realities of Champions League football.

A straightforward win had looked on the cards for the opening 43 minutes as Petri Pasanen's own goal and a super header by Peter Crouch saw the visitors take a stranglehold on proceedings.

But Hugo Almeida halved the deficit against the run of play and Marko Marin levelled before both sides missed glorious chances to win it.

Redknapp stuck with the 4-5-1 formation which he experimented with in Saturday's 1-1 draw at West Brom.

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He had vowed to be more cautious away from home in Europe following last month's game at Young Boys, who had raced to a 3-0 lead inside half an hour.

Avoiding that kind of start was vital against a side who were anything but Champions League rookies, Bremen returning to Europe's top table after their five-year run in the competition was ended last season.

Spurs struck first in the 12th minute. Benoit Assou-Ekotto's brilliant ball released Gareth Bale down the left and his low cross was turned in by Pasanen under pressure from Crouch.

Jermaine Jenas then played a volleyed pass to Rafael van der Vaart on the left and the new man produced a pinpoint cross for Crouch to power a header back across Tim Wiese and into the net.

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Spurs failed to capitalise and in the end both teams wasted glorious chances to win it.

In Group C, Manchester United made 10 changes to Saturday's side and brought back Wayne Rooney but could only draw 0-0 with Glasgow Rangers at Old Trafford – Antonio Valencia being taken away on a stretcher with a suspected broken ankle in the 62nd minute.