Tottenham's Rafael van der Vaart and Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder have already started their Champions League battle: off the pitch on Twitter.The two Dutchman, who are good friends and began their careers together at Ajax, have begun the banter with some amusing exchanges on the site, ahead of their clash at White Hart Lane on Tuesday.

Sneijder kicked off the battle with a message for Van der Vaart, who missed the first match through suspension, saying: "I'm cleaning the Champions League trophy with a Tottenham shirt." But Van der Vaart replied: "Thanks for cleaning it up for me. I'm already creating space in my cup cabinet."

Sneijder has since upped the ante, claiming: "We're gonna [sic] give you a football lesson in London." But Van der Vaart retorted: "I met your defence in Milan, it didn't look good. It was like cheese with holes in it."

Inter scored four goals in the first match and Sneijder used that fact for the next barb, joking: "I found a good goalkeeper on eBay. Shall I send you the link?" But Van der Vaart replied: "We don't need him, you won't come into our penalty area!"

Sneijder also mocked English football claiming it is all about power and athleticism not skill and technique and took the mickey out of Van der Vaart's goal from a few inches out against Everton.

He said: "In that country football is a game where you have to run as hard as you can from the one end of the pitch to the other, isn't it?, Nice goal, but even my six year old cousin would have scored this one."

And Van der Vaart responded: "These goals also count but at White Hart Lane agains

Very nice topic. We'll see who wins the battle of the tweets tonight.

I can bet on it,that Spurs will triumph tonight

MrPrsdent:

I can bet on it,that Spurs will triumph tonight

Thanks Mister President

Benitez will bring shame to Inter on English soil. My gut feels so. . .

hehe!

A must watch of tonight's matches.

Van Der Vaart already having the first laugh.

pride comes before a fall

mykali:

Benitez will bring shame to Inter on English soil. My gut feels so. . .

Your gut feeling was correct. Can you please tell me what your gut feeling will be for our game away to bolton on saturday?

yousouph:

A must watch of tonight's matches.

And it was a great game. Please keep us updated on the tweets. I love them.

manmustwac:

Your gut feeling was correct. Can you please tell me what your gut feeling will be for our game away to bolton on saturday?

. . .hey, i now have Octopus Paul's brains for guts enh??