On 23 October 2008, Pasquale Marino’s Udinese started their 2008/09 UEFA Cup campaign on the right foot, beating Tottenham 2-0 at home. At the time, two future Real Madrid players played for Tottenham, namely Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. The Bianconeri had reached the Group Stage after eliminating Borussia Dortmund in the prestigious double match back in September. Their group included Tottenham, Dinamo Zagreb, Spartak Moscow and NEC Nijmegen.
It was a complex match, but already halfway through the first half Udinese took the lead. Fabio Quagliarella earned a penalty kick for his team by capitalising on a bad mistake by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. Antonio Di Natale stepped up and scored the opener. After that, Tottenham desperately tried to equalise, but they lacked sharpness, and even when they managed to get shots on target, our goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was always there to deny them.
In the second half, the visitors subbed in Modric and Geovani Dos Santos to try to score the equaliser, but at minute 57 Jamie O'Hara was sent off, leaving Tottenham with 10 men on the pitch.
As the game started to draw to a close, the visitors went all out on an attack, with Darren Bent putting Handanovic to the test. But then Udinese struck a counter-attack after subbing in Simone Pepe, who made it 2-0. His goal sealed Udinese’s victory.
Marino’s Udinese would go on to win the two following matches against Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Zagreb as well, and would only lose the last match of the Group Stage against NEC Nijmegen, with no impact on their final standing whatsoever. This was only the first achievement of one of Udinese’s most successful campaigns ever. They would then go on to qualify for the next rounds, beating Lech Poznan and Zenit, and would then reach the quarter-finals against Werder Bremen.
Udinese 2-0 Tottenham (HT 1-0)
Scorers: Di Natale 24, Pepe 86
Udinese: Handanovic; Motta, Coda, Domizzi, Lukovic (Lukovic 89); Inler, D'Agostino, Isla; Sanchez (Pepe 79), Quagliarella (Floro Flores 86), Di Natale.
Subs not used: Koprivec, Sala, Ferronetti, Obodo.
Coach: Marino.
Tottenham: Gomes; Assou-Ekotto (Modric 46), Woodgate (Dos Santos 64), King, Hutton; Bale, O'Hara, Jenas, Zokora, Lennon; Bent.
Subs not used: Sanchez, Dawson, Gilberto, Gunter, Campbell.
Coach: Ramos.