He was watching Modric on his way to becoming a cult hero at Spurs and now he is plotting their downfall in the second-tier European competition.

He told the PA news agency: "I spoke Luka. I came with him to Tottenham, the old stadium at White Hart Lane.

"When we came here today, when we saw this stadium we commented the huge difference, what a magnificent new stadium.

"Luka used to be and still is one of the best players in the world and he came from our club in Croatia and we see this as being important.

"A lot of players in Dinamo want to follow in his footsteps but they have to work hard and they can achieve what Luka has achieved."

Dinamo come to London in good form, winning their last eight games in all competitions, but Mamic knows the difficulty level is about to step up.

"Eight games have been won in a row, this is great, we don't want to stop at number eight, we want to continue," he said.

"It won't be easy, we have strong opponents, this is world-class football and this team is good enough to be at the top of the Premier League, the coach is one of the best in the world.

"We are going to give all we have got to win number nine."