Spurs Champions League Titles
Tottenham Hotspur have never won the European Cup or the Champions League. They have come close only once and it is still the night that most Spurs fans will talk about whenever the subject of Europe’s elite competition comes up, irrespective of the final scoreline. The run to the 2019 final was built on one of the great comebacks that the competition has produced, but ultimately ended in defeat to an English opponent in Madrid. Spurs’ history in the competition goes back much further than that, though.
The club’s first entry came in the 1961-1962 campaign, back when it was known as the European Cup, when the reigning league and FA Cup double winners entered as England’s representative. The decades between that campaign and the losing final of 2019 were shaped as much by long absences from the competition and group-stage struggles as by nights to remember. Qualification itself has often been the achievement, long before any question of silverware has even been laid at the feet of the manager with any serious expectation.
Champions League Wins
Spurs have never won the competition, regardless of whether it was the European Cup or the rebranded Champions League. Their best finish came in 2019, when they reached the final for the first time in the club’s history.
Near Misses & Second-Place Finishes
That solitary final sits alongside one near-miss from much earlier in the club’s history, back when only reigning league champions were allowed to enter the competition at all.
1961-1962: Agony Against Benfica
Tottenham Hotspur’s first European Cup campaign very nearly ended in the final. Spurs went two goals down inside 19 minutes away to Benfica on the 21st of March 1962 and lost the first-leg 3-1, with Bobby Smith scoring their only goal. Back at White Hart Lane on the fifth of April, Benfica led again inside 15 minutes to go 4-1 up on aggregate, but Smith equalised on the night and Danny Blanchflower converted a penalty to make it 2-1. Sadly, it was not enough. Benfica went through 4-3 on aggregate and went on to retain the trophy by beating Real Madrid in the final.
2018-2019: Moura’s Miracle in Amsterdam but Dream Ends in Madrid
Son Heung-min’s late goal gave Spurs a 1-0 lead from the quarter-final first-leg at home. The return at the Etihad Stadium on the 17th of April 2019 was frantic from the start, with four goals shared between the sides inside the first 11 minutes. Manchester City won the second-leg 4-3, for a 4-4 aggregate scoreline, but Spurs went through on away goals after a stoppage-time winner from Raheem Sterling was ruled out following a VAR review for offside in the build-up. Few knockout ties in the competition’s history have crammed in quite so much drama in quite so little time.
| Round | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter-Final Leg 1 | Spurs | 1-0 | Man City |
| Quarter-Final Leg 2 | Man City | 4-3 | Spurs |
Spurs trailed Ajax 3-0 on aggregate at half-time in the second-leg of the semi-final on the eighth of May 2019, Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech having put the Dutch side firmly in control. Lucas Moura then scored twice in four second-half minutes, before adding a stoppage-time winner to complete his hat-trick and send Spurs through 3-3 on aggregate on away goals. It is still regarded as one of the great comebacks in the competition’s history and it put Tottenham into their first Champions League final.
| Round | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-Final Leg 1 | Spurs | 0-1 | Ajax |
| Semi-Final Leg 2 | Ajax | 2-3 | Spurs |
Tottenham lost the final 2-0 to Liverpool at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid on the first of June 2019. Mohamed Salah converted a penalty inside the second minute, which was the second-fastest goal in the history of Champions League finals. It was awarded after Sadio Mané’s cross struck Moussa Sissoko’s arm. Divock Origi then added a second in the 87th minute to confirm that the club’s first European Cup final would end in defeat, with victory going to one of the only teams who can claim a better comeback story than Spurs themselves.
| Round | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Spurs | 0-2 | Liverpool |
Disasters & Upsets
Spurs’ Champions League history has had its share of rough nights too, some of them arriving in the very same campaigns as the highs.
2010-2011: Real Madrid Complete a Rout
Tottenham’s first campaign in the rebranded Champions League came in the 2010-2011 season. It had already produced one of the club’s great European nights, thanks to a 3-1 win over holders Inter Milan at White Hart Lane after Gareth Bale had inspired an earlier comeback from four goals down to lose only 4-3 away in Milan. The run ended far less gloriously in the quarter-finals. Real Madrid won the first-leg 4-0 at the Bernabeu on the fifth of April 2011, then won the second-leg 1-0 at White Hart Lane on the 13th of April to complete a 5-0 aggregate victory.
2016-2017: The Wembley Hoodoo
Tottenham played their Champions League home games at Wembley during the 2016-2017 season, whilst White Hart Lane was being rebuilt. The group stage at the stadium was a struggle from the start. Spurs lost at home to both Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, whilst their only win at the stadium came against a CSKA Moscow side that was already out of contention. They finished third in Group E and dropped into the Europa League without reaching the Champions League knockout rounds at all.
2019-2020: Bayern Munich Score Seven at Their New Home
Four months after the final in Madrid, Tottenham hosted Bayern Munich at their new stadium and were thrashed 7-2. Serge Gnabry scored four and Robert Lewandowski added two as Bayern ran riot on the first of October 2019, with only an early Son Heung-min goal and a late Harry Kane penalty in reply. It was the first time in the club’s history that Tottenham had conceded seven goals in a home match in any competition, making some fans think that the stadium might well have been cursed from the start.