Tottenham showing they can keep Kane, Eriksen and best players - Berbatov

Progress to the last 16 of the Champions League will help Tottenham to “keep their best players”, says Dimitar Berbatov, with Spurs holding their own in a 1-1 draw with Barcelona.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side headed to Camp Nou on Tuesday aware that they needed to match Inter’s result against PSV in order to progress in Europe.

They left it late to snatch the point they required, but Lucas Moura stepped off the bench to grab a priceless 85th-minute leveller and cancel out Ousmane Dembele’s opener.

Spurs will now be rubbing shoulders with the elite in the new year, and Berbatov believes that will help to prevent the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen from having their heads turned.

“This is a way for Spurs to keep their best players,” the former Tottenham striker told BT Sport.

“Because if you play in the Champions League, you go to the next stage and all of the time you face the best teams and the best players in the world, this is how you keep your best players.

“This is how you build for the future and how you show that you have the desire and the willingness to win something.

“Full credit to the coach because he made the right substitutions and one of them scored a goal. But again, it was a team effort. They deserved that goal.”

Tottenham are now regulars in Champions League competition and harbour ambitions of forcing themselves into Premier League title contention.

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Berbatov admits that they need to start landing major silverware, with progress keeping players happy for now but a tangible reward desired at some point.

Pressed on how the current Spurs side compares to the one he helped to League Cup glory in 2008, the Bulgarian added: “Better. The irony is that we still won a cup and they didn’t win something yet.

“The only thing they are missing is winning something. Hopefully it’s going to happen soon.

“If you want to develop as a player, in the end you have to show up with something and say I was a great player, but what did I win in the end?

“Sometimes the players feel comfortable in Spurs but they start thinking 'is it time for me to win something? Is it time for the next step? Am I in the right place here to win something?'

“When you do performances like this and go to the next stage of the Champions League, it tells you in your head that you are capable of winning something.”