• Manager thrilled by prospect of taking on Inter in Europe
• Redknapp warns against dangers of complacency in league

Harry Redknapp is not often lost in suspended animation. But the moment he watched the Champions League draw unfolding with the name Tottenham Hotspur in among the crème de la crème of European football struck him as “almost surreal”. It has been a heady few days at White Hart Lane and the manager is naturally excited about the glamour that lies ahead, particularly the fixtures with the European champions, Internazionale.

“You only had to be at White Hart Lane to see what it meant to fans,” he said. “We’ve got a good chance of qualifying from the group but I hope people don’t get carried away. I am delighted we got this far and we’ll just have to see how far we can go.

“Inter are the outstanding Italian team. They’ll probably win the championship again. It’s a tough job [Rafael Benítez] has taken on, to follow José [Mourinho] is almost impossible. So a tough job – a great job, but a tough job.”

Managing giddy expectations is something Redknapp is particularly wary about as his team prepare to take on a more mundane challenge in the shape of Wigan Athletic’s visit. Last season Tottenham pulverised Roberto Martínez’s side in the same fixture, winning 9-1. Wigan travel to London with understandable trepidation on the back of consecutive Premier League home thumpings, with 10 goals conceded and none scored. Redknapp is worried about complacency and a hint of hangover from the Champions League. He has warned his players about it and is keen to remind the supporters to take nothing for granted.

“You can’t just turn up and think we are going to win,” he said. “We need them to get behind us more than normal. I think we’ll need a lift. These are dangerous games.” He is mindful of a couple of slap-in-the-face results against teams Tottenham were expected to roll over last season. Home defeats against Stoke and Wolves stung. “Wigan will be a real toughie,” he said. “On the back of their first two results it’s not a game I would have chosen.”

Redknapp has great sympathy for the task facing Martínez. “It’s so difficult when you have those bad defeats. They defended badly and I am sure they will be aware of that. Confidence is fragile and you just have to keep them believing. You know that one result can turn it for you. They had a result in midweek in the League Cup and he will want to build on that. But it’s hard for clubs like Wigan. They lost a few players in the summer, now [Charles] N’Zogbia wants to go, it ain’t easy.”

It may be even tricker after Redknapp confirmed Jermain Defoe has made such a miraculous recovery from the groin problem that was expected to rule him out for several weeks, he may no longer need surgery. “He has come in and said he feels OK,” Redknapp said. “If there’s no pain tomorrow he won’t have the operation.” If he remains pain free over the weekend, Defoe will be available to England for the Euro 2012 qualification matches next week.

Tottenham HotspurPremier LeagueAmy Lawrenceguardian.co.uk

What do you think of the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition?

After a ceremony that lasted approximately 10 hours, we have the Champions League draw for 2010 and there are some intriguing match-ups in Europe’s top club competition.

Spurs were delighted to go through against Young Boys last night, their reward is a date with the competition’s holders, Internazionale. Will Inter be a different proposition now that José Mourinho has gone or will Rafael Benítez’s experience against English opposition come to his aid?

There’s a British element to Group C as Manchester United face Rangers. Sevilla and Turkey’s Bursaspor are also in what looks like a tricky group. The Premier League champions, Chelsea, should go through from a group that also features Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina. Arsenal face a long trip to Shakhtar Donetsk in Group H.

Group G perhaps provides the biggest clash of the group stages. Milan will play Real Madrid and another former champions, Ajax, make up the group along with Auxerre.

Do you see any potential upsets in the group stage? And which one so you think will provide the most entertainment?

Champions LeagueArsenalManchester UnitedChelseaTottenham HotspurRangersguardian.co.uk

• Harry Redknapp: Tottenham should be wary of Swiss side
• Liverpool face Trabzonspor in Europa League play-off

Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of reaching the group stages of the Champions League were given a huge lift today when they were drawn against Young Boys of Bern in the play-off round. Although the Swiss Super League runners-up knocked out Fenerbahce in the previous round, Harry Redknapp will be relieved to have avoided Dynamo Kyiv, Braga, Sampdoria and Auxerre, all of whom were potential opponents, and would have carried a much greater threat.

Young Boys have started their domestic season but have failed to win any of their opening three matches and their disappointment at being paired with Spurs, who last appeared in Europe’s premier club competition in the 1961-62 season, was acute. Alain Baumann, the club’s sporting director, described the draw as “the worst that we could have” and conceded that their chances of going through were “very, very little”.

Spurs will face Young Boys at the Stade de Suisse on 17 or 18 August, with the second leg at White Hart Lane the following Tuesday or Wednesday. “We’ll be favourites, obviously, but we have to give Young Boys the utmost respect,” Redknapp, the Spurs manager, said. “They beat Fenerbahce in the last round and we watched the first leg on DVD. They could have won four or five – they hammered them at home. They then went away and won in Turkey and that’s a fantastic result. They also have an astroturf pitch at their stadium and they play well on it, so it will be a tough game for us.”

One person in Bern who was delighted with the draw is Scott Sutter, the 24-year-old Young Boys right-back who was born in Enfield and grew up supporting Spurs. Sutter left England for his father’s native Switzerland at the age of 16 and has not returned since. “To be drawn against the team I grew up supporting is a special, special feeling for me,” Sutter said. “Hopefully I’ll stay injury-free beforehand so I can play in the stadium where I once was as a supporter.”

In the Europa League play-offs, Liverpool travel to Turkey to face Trabzonspor, with the home leg taking place at Anfield on 19 August before the two teams meet in Turkey a week later. Manchester City look like enjoying a comfortable passage into the group stages after Roberto Mancini’s side were drawn against the Romanian club Timisoara, who finished fifth in their domestic league. City are away in the first leg. “Any team from Romania will provide stiff opposition, particularly on their own ground,” Mancini said.

Aston Villa have a chance to avenge last season’s defeat by Rapid Vienna after they were paired with the Austrian side at the same stage of the competition for the second year running. “We had the feeling beforehand that we’d probably find ourselves drawn against Rapid Vienna again,” Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, said. “This won’t be easy because Rapid was as tough a draw as we could have encountered, but we’ll be ready to go.”

Celtic, who have dropped into the Europa League after they were defeated in their Champions League qualifier in midweek, are up against the Dutch side Utrecht, who finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season. In the other ties involving British clubs, Motherwell face the Danish side Odense, Dundee United take on AEK Athens and the Welsh Premier League team TNS play CSKA Sofia.

Tottenham HotspurChampions LeagueEuropa LeagueStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk