Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas admits their clash with Europa League opponents Inter Milan is an emotional one.

Villas-Boas spent 18 months at the San Siro operating as Inter's head scout under Jose Mourinho before he decided to go it alone after being offered the manager's position at Academica de Coimbra.

Villas-Boas' decision to leave his mentor and branch out in to management angered the now Real Madrid boss at the time, but his protege still thinks he made the right choice.

"It was a difficult moment of my professional life (to leave Inter)," Villas-Boas said.

"At that time I was scouting for Jose. We had conversations because I wanted to be a little bit more involved with first-team training

"Jose had always seen me doing the job I was doing.

"It was a difficult step to take, but it was probably the right one."