Rafael van der Vaart urges Spurs to take Europa League seriously as he shares hilarious Harry Redknapp-era story

Spurs face Qarabag in their first Europa League game of the season on Thursday, having finished fifth last season. The club have a storied history in the competition, having won it in 1972 and 1984. In recent years, however, they have struggled to reach the latter stages, due in large part to managers using the competition as an excuse to rotate.

Van der Vaart shared a story from his playing days which he believes sums up Spurs' attitude towards the competition, as Harry Redknapp refused to register him for the group stages of the 2011/12 edition. Now, he has urged Ange Postecoglou not to make the same kind of mistake.

Van der Vaart was asked about Spurs' attitude towards the Europa League and told GOAL: “Yeah, I never understood that in England. The Europa League is great. You fight the whole season for your places.

"I’ll tell you a story. It was my first year, and we were really giving everything, and we came fifth, I think, so for the second year, we qualified for the Europa League. And then all of a sudden, I got a text from a journalist from Holland, ‘are you not in the squad for the Europa League?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ So I went to Harry.

"He said, ‘do you want to go to Russia?’ I said ‘of course I want to, it’s Europe’ and he said ‘No, after the group stages, you are in’. Okay, and of course, we came third. I didn’t play in Europe.

"I think European football is the best thing to play, as a player, so I hope they will do it seriously.”

Rafael van der Vaart was speaking on behalf of BetMGM. Play the new £1million Golden Goals game this season by correctly predicting Premier League scores. BeGambleAware 18+

Spurs did play a Russian club in the group stages - Rubin Kazan - and were also up against PAOK of Greece and the Republic of Ireland's Shamrock Rovers. They took 10 points from six games, but PAOK took 12 and Kazan earned 11, meaning Spurs were eliminated. They failed to beat PAOK home or away and actually lost in Russia without Van der Vaart.

Spurs face Qarabag in their first Europa League league phase game of the season. They will also play Roma, Rangers, AZ Alkmaar, Ferencvaros, Galatasaray, Elfsborg and Hoffenheim under the new format.