Benítez back in England as Tottenham host Inter

FC Internazionale Milano coach Rafael Benítez returns to England for the first time since his spell as Liverpool FC manager ended last summer when the Group A leaders head to Tottenham Hotspur FC on Matchday 4.

• Benítez's final three visits to White Hart Lane with Liverpool all ended in defeat.

• The UEFA Champions League holders will book their last-16 place with victory but Spurs, second in the section, will have other ideas, heartened no doubt by their Gareth Bale-inspired second-half fightback in the 4-3 loss at Inter last time out.

Match background
• Inter recorded a 1-0 win at Tottenham's London rivals Chelsea FC on their previous trip to England in the round of 16 of last season's UEFA Champions League, Samuel Eto'o the scorer.

• They had previously lost at Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at that stage in 2008/09 and 2007/08 respectively. Inter's overall away record against English opposition is W4 D1 L7.

• Tottenham's only previous home meeting with Italian opposition was against Inter's local rivals AC Milan in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup semi-final. Steve Perryman's two goals earned Spurs a 2-1 comeback victory and they proceeded to win the tie 3-2 on aggregate en route to winning the competition.

• Tottenham have scored four goals in both their UEFA Champions League games at White Hart Lane this season – beating BSC Young Boys 4-0 in the play-off round and FC Twente 4-1 on Matchday 2.

• Inter began their travels in the group stage with a 2-2 draw at Twente.

Team ties
• During his six seasons with Liverpool from 2004 to 2010 Benítez had a record of two wins, two draws and two defeats at Spurs in the Premier League. He also recorded a win and a defeat there in the English League Cup, the victory coming on penalties in December 2004.

• Benítez faced Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp 13 times in English football. Peter Crouch, who played under the Spaniard at Anfield from 2005 to 2008, scored for Redknapp's Southampton FC side in a 2-0 victory against Liverpool in the coaches' first encounter in January 2005.

• Benítez held the upper hand in head-to-heads when Redknapp was at Portsmouth FC with three wins, two draws and only one loss. Niko Kranjčar scored the winner in Portsmouth's solitary victory in April 2007.

• At Tottenham Redknapp won all three home meetings against Benítez's Liverpool but lost both away.

• With Valencia CF in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League, Benítez oversaw home and away wins against future employers Liverpool in the first group stage. In the second group stage, his Valencia side earned an away draw and home victory against Arsenal FC. Valencia's run was ended by Inter in the quarter-finals.

• Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart are team-mates with the Dutch international team and also played together at AFC Ajax (2002-05) and Real Madrid CF (2008/09).

• Carlo Cudicini started his career with Milan but never played in Serie A for the Rossoneri.

• Heurelho Gomes, who was sent off in Milan, was Júlio César's deputy in Brazil's FIFA World Cup squad in South Africa. Lucio and Maicon were also in the Brazil team.

• Gomes was in the PSV Eindhoven team that lost 2-0 away and 1-0 at home to Inter in the 2007/08 group stage. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored FC Spartak Moskva's goal in a 2-1 defeat at Inter in October 2006, also appearing in the 1-0 reverse in Moscow.

• Robbie Keane was at Inter in 2000/01. In Serie A he made six appearances without scoring. He found the net once in five European outings, against Ruch Chorzów in the UEFA Cup.

• Samuel Eto'o is a colleague of Sébastien Bassong and Benoît Assou-Ekotto in the Cameroon national team.

• Sulley Muntari played under Redknapp at Portsmouth in 2007/08. He helped Redknapp claim his first major trophy as a manager, that season's FA Cup, with a quarter-final winner at Manchester United FC.

• Marco Materazzi spent 1998/99 at Everton.