10pm But the final word goes to Martin Keown on TV3 when asked by Matt Cooper about his former Arsenal team-mate, Mathieu Flamini’s hari-kari tackle on Corluka: “He’s not that type of player, Matt”.

Thanks for your comments and tweets. We’ll be back in the morning and Niall will have another liveblog tomorrow night.

9.59pm Sky pundit and former tough guy Graeme Souness on his Italian kindred spirit: “I would love it if Gennaro Gattuso was locked in a room for 10 minutes with Joe Jordan,” he says to Jeff Stelling.

9.49pm Rio Ferdinand tweets: “Joe jordan done well not to retaliate….what is gattusso up to trying to head butt big joe jordan…know ya players fella!”

9.43pm It’s all over in Valencia too – 1-1.

9.40pm FULL-TIME Milan 0 Spurs 1 What drama. Ibra grabs a late, late equaliser it seems but it’s disallowed because of a well-spotted push on the defender.

That Joe Jordan-Gatusso scrap re-ignites when the Scot offers the midfielder some words of advice and the Milan skipper head-butts Jordan.

ButSpurs survive.

9.38pm Spurs are running down the clock like experts. Lawro urges them to go for a second when they win a corner. They decide to hang on to it.

9.31pm Rene Gattuso will miss the return leg after the picked up a long-overdue yellow card. But perhaps he’s better off, having annoyed hard nut Joe Jordan earlier. Five minutes left now.

9.26pm GOAL! Spurs make the breakthrough on 80 minutes. Aaron Lennon absolutely tears the creaking Milan defence to shreds and squares for Crouch who sweeps the ball into the corner first time.

9.17: Another half-chance for Spurs, a Modric free-kick is floated in the box which Crouch wins but his header lacks the power to trouble Amelia. Why can’t the tallest man on the planet learn to head the ball?

9.14pm What about this for a stat: Raúl is now on 70 goals in European competitions, breaking Ger Müller’s all-time record of 69 European goals. [via Paul Ring]

And here’s the goal:

9.08pm GOAL! Valencia 1 Schalke 1 The Germans equalise; but guess who scored it? That’s right.. Raul.

Van der Vaart off for Modric too, by the way. The bookies win again.

9.06pm Milan are turning the screw somewhat. From the Telegraph’s Henry Winter on Twitter:

“Kicking off now. Flamini should have gone for horrible challenge on Corluka. Gattuso just pushed ex-Milan Joe Jordan in face”

9.02pm Former Arsenal man Mathieu Flamini flies in two-footed on Corluka. The Croat is being treated off the pitch and the French midfielder somehow avoid the proverbial early bath. Though Silvio Berlusconi might be hosting a ‘bunga bunga’ party in the bath anyway, so fair enough.

8.57pm GOAL Birmingham 0 Newcastle 2 Ireland striker Leon Best puts Newcastle 2-0 up at Birmingham.

8.53pm And the Dutchman almost scored with a beautiful swiveled dink that drifted just wide of the top corner.

8.53pm We’re up and running again in Milan.  His name means little duck so it’s the perfect weather for Pato who replaces Seedorf.

That’s one half of my bet down the pan. Come on RVDV!

8.48pm Les Roopanarine’s at the Mestalla: “With Klaas-Jan Huntelaar missing a sitter and Peer Kluge hitting the bar, Schalke have done everything but score. However, Valencia have gone from strength to strength since their opener and are in control.” [BBC]

8.46pm Cascarino bemoans Milan’s poor first-half performance, insisting the Serie A is in decline.

8.34pm HALF TIME Scoreless at the San Siro. Harry Redknapp will be happy with the performance so far, says Trevor Welsh. He’s not wrong.

In Spain, that Valencia goal separates the sides. Delicate.

8.32pm The good news from Sky’s man on the touchline that AC Milan’s original goalkeeper Christian Abbiati has been taken to hospital for a precautionary scan, but is conscious and almost certainly OK apart from a spot of concussion. [Guardian]

8.24pm GOAL! Former Ireland international Colin Healy has put Ipswich Town two up at Doncaster.

8.18pm Mark Lawrenson: I have never, ever seen Ibrahimovic play well. Have you?”

Trevor Welsh: “On a couple of occasion, yes.”

This happened.

8.12pm Here’s that early ‘handball’ from Nesta. the French referee and his four assistants waved it away. What do you think?

8.04pm The Milan keeper has been down for a few minutes after an innocuous aerial challenge with Crouch. He’s substituted as replays show he picked up a head injury earlier on. Writes Miguel Delaney of the Sunday Tribune on Twitter:

“Commentators talking as if Crouch tactic is revolutionary. Didn’t John Charles start that particular uprising in Italy a good 60 years?”

8.03pm GOAL! Valencia 1 Schalke 0Valencia take the lead against Schalke just after the quarter hour, Jeremy Mathieu made an overlapping run down the left and crossed for Roberto Soldado to score at the near post. Watch it here

7.56pm Milan show their teeth for the first time as Robinho feeds Ibra but he’s ruled to be offside after his shot is blocked. Spurs then go up the other end and force a save from Abbiati. Lennon looks very lively.

7.52pm GOAL Newcastle 1 Birmingham 0 Meanwhile, back in monochrome England, Newcastle go one up against Birmingham. According to the BBC: “What a start for Newcastle, Peter Lovenkrands stealing in at the near post to tap in Jonas Gutierrez’s precise cross from the left to hand the visitors the lead inside 95 seconds.”

7.48pm Spurs start really brightly. Aaron Lennon earns a corner after Nesta seemed to shoulder/chest a Crouch effort on goal. It’s absolutely pelting down.

7.41pm While Keown and Cas reminisce about the length of the San Siro tunnel, I’ve had a modest flutter on the fist goalscorer, one from each side. What do you reckon?

7.35pm Right, we’re up and running again. It’s Martin Keown and Tony Cascarino alongside Matt Cooper in the TV3 studio. Here’s the team, I’ll get the kettle on.

AC Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Nesta, Yepes, Antonini, Gattuso, Thiago Silva, Flamini, Seedorf, Robinho, Ibrahimovic.
Subs: Amelia, Alexandre Pato, Papastathopoulos, Oddo, Jankulovski, Merkel, Legrottaglie.

Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Gallas, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Sandro, Pienaar, Van der Vaart, Crouch.
Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Modric, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Woodgate.

6.50pm FULL TIME A truly appalling game of football ends scoreless. Man City will be pleased with their night’s work however. Stay with us for all the build-up to the build-up of the Milan-Spurs game.

6.41pm We’re back with the boys in Salonika, still nil-all. Boo!

6.36pm Oh-oh. ITV lose the signal from Greece so we’re back with Andy Townsend and John Hartson. The pair are tap-dancing around the questions from presenter Matt Smith with not much to say.

If we miss a goal now after all this, it’ll be like that famous Kit-Kat advert:

6.23pm It’s still scoreless in Greece. City are well on top though.

In Milan, Spurs are preparing without Gareth Bale. The Welsh winger terrorised Inter in the San Siro with this hat-trick.

White Hart Lane manager Redknapp has tried to shrug off Bale’s absence (the second voice in the audio is Zlatan).

Harry Redknapp looks ahead to tonight’s game in Milan

6.10pm Half-watching the City game and reading about the Van der Vaart-Ibra feud. “First of all I want to win,” he told the Sun. “Second, I want to play the ball between Zlatan’s legs. That would be a very nice bonus.”

The former Ajax teammates fell out when Ibrahimovic injured Van der Vaart in an international friendly between Holland played Sweden almost seven years ago. Can’t wait for this.

Anyone have a first-goalscorer inkling? Zlatan is at 4-1, VdV is at sevens.

5.47pm HALF-TIME 0-0. Bobby Mancini’s dream scoreline.

5.41pm By the way, whether you plan on following tonight’s action on your phone or with the laptop cracked open on the couch, let us know what you’re thinking.

Email me at adrianrussell@thescore.ie, Tweet us or comment on Facebook. We’re lonely.

5.36pm City are well on top and the Greek crowd are complete joke shop at the back. It’s Jim Beglin and the other guy in the gantry.

5.23pm Man City are currently 20-odd minutes in their Europa League clash with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.  It’s scoreless at the moment.

Here’s the teams; it doesn’t make particularly encouraging reading for Ireland fans. Given will sito n the bench for what is probably his only chance at a game before the Macedonia qualifier:

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Boateng, Toure, Kolarov, Barry, Toure Yaya, Wright-Phillips, Tevez, Silva, Dzeko.
Subs: Given, Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Vieira, Jo, Balotelli.

Aris Salonika: Sifakis, Vangeli, Guiaro, Lazaridis, Michel, Neto, Prittas, Faty, Sakata, Toja, Bobadilla.
Subs: Vellidis, Oriol, Cesarec, Kaznaferis, Mendrinos, Cesnauskis, Castillo.

EARLY DOORS: This week we gave Jedward to Europe. In return they give us Champions League and Europa League football.

We have the fizzy pop and crisps ready for what will be an intriguing night. Harry Redknapp brings his Tottenham side to Italy to face the giants of Milan.

Typically, he has vowed to send his side out to attack. They’re missing Gareth Bale – who so terrorised Inter in the group stages – but the Londoners are set-up to cause their hosts problems.

Elsewhere, Valencia welcome Schalke in another fascinating match-up. More importantly, here’s John and Edward’s Eurovision entry.

Email adrianrussell@thescore.ie, Tweet us or comment on Facebook. We’re lonely.