Harry Redknapp: Missing Champions League was "nightmare"

Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has admitted that losing out on the Champions League last year with Tottenham Hotspur was a "nightmare".

Spurs finished fourth in the Premier League last season but were denied Champions League football when Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in European football's top competition's final and took their place in this year's tournament.

Redknapp wrote in his column in The Sun: "I will never forget that night. We had done everything we could. We'd made sure we had finished fourth and claimed that final spot but, of course, it all rested on Chelsea winning the European trophy at Bayern Munich.

"I was in torment because on one hand my nephew Frank Lampard was playing for Chelsea and, of course, I wish him every success. But on the other, and in a professional sense, it was more important for me to get Spurs into the Champions League, so I had no choice but to hope they lost.

"When they won, I felt physically sick. We got back to the hotel. I didn't even have a drink with anyone, I couldn't stand it. I was numb. I went straight to my room and straight to bed — but there was no way I was going to sleep that night — it was a nightmare."

Tottenham face Sunderland later today knowing that only a win will see them have a chance of playing Champions League football as they are behind fourth-placed Arsenal by one point.