Crouch hat-trick puts Spurs into Champions League

Tottenham 4 Young Boys 0 (Tottenham win 6-3 on aggregate). Peter Crouch scored the most valuable hat-trick of his life on Wednesday night as Spurs brushed aside Swiss side Young Boys to qualify for the Champions League group stage. Tottenham could make as much as £20m from the lucrative next phase of the competition, the draw of which will be made this afternoon.

On a wet night in north London Tottenham got off to a dream start as they sought to erase the Swiss Boys' slender one goal advantage. Instructed by manager Harry Redknapp to attack the visitors from the start, Tottenham did just that and were one up after five minutes when Crouch headed Gareth Bale's cross past Marco Wolfi into the bottom left-hand corner of the Swiss goal.

Spurs continued to press for a second and it duly came on 32 minutes although it should never have been allowed. Bale – impressive throughout – was again the creator -  this time threading a neat pass to Jermain Defoe, but the England striker clearly controlled the ball with his arm before rifling a left-foot shot into the net. So much for UEFA's experiment of deploying an extra official behind the goal to spot such incidents for neither he, nor the referee or linesman, saw the foul. Defoe should have made it 3-0 a few minutes later when he was put clear in the penalty area but he skewed his shot wide off the right-hand upright.

Despite a lacklustre opening half hour, Young Boys did stir into life shortly before the break with Xavier Hochstrasser lashing a shot just wide and Henri Bienvenu coming close with a header.

Spurs began the second-half with a change in goal, Carlo Cudicini replacing  the injured Heurelho Gomes, but the Italian shotstopper had little to do as Spurs booked their place in the group stage of the Champions League with two more goals from Crouch, the man whose strike against Manchester City last season ensured the club finished fourth in the Premier League.

His second goal on 61 minutes was a regulation header from another Bale cross and his hat-trick came from the penalty spot after man-of-the-match Bale had been brought down by Lulic. Afterwards Crouch was in bullish mood, sending out a challenge to Europe's finest as Spurs look forward to their appearance in the Champions League group stage. "We want Real Madrid and Inter Milan to come to White Hart Lane, the fans want to see that," declared the 29-year-old, adding: "You don't know how good you are until you've played the best and we've got our chance to do that now and we're looking forward to it."

And manager Harry Redknapp was in a similarly upbeat mood as he contemplated the millions in revenue the club will receive as a result of qualification. "We'll give anybody a game - it's a tough place to come," said Redknapp. "We're looking forward to it. We just want to progress as far as we can... It's fantastic. It's a long time since Tottenham played in a top European competition. We had the UEFA Cup, but to get into the group stage of the Champions League is great. When I came here that was their ambition and we've achieved that." ·