Harry Winks needs no reminding of the last time Tottenham played Real Madrid in the Champions League. “I was actually a flag-bearer on the pitch before the game,” said Winks. “I remember being within 10 yards of Cristiano Ronaldo. I was in awe.”

In April 2011, 15-year-old Winks had just joined the club as a schoolboy and Harry Redknapp’s swashbuckling team included Luka Modric and Gareth Bale. Ronaldo scored as Real won 1-0 in the quarter-final, second leg, and 5-0 on aggregate, but Winks will never forget that night.

“I watched the game from the side of the pitch and White Hart Lane was rocking, it was one of the best atmospheres I’d experienced,” said Winks. “It was surreal, crazy- under the lights in the Champions League, listening to the music for the first time live. It was special for me.”

Six years on, Ronaldo is still awe-inspiring but much else has changed. The Portugal superstar now counts Modric and Bale among his Madrid team-mates, while Winks is part of the next generation of Champions League players at Spurs, who will host the Spanish giants - along with Borussia Dortmund and Cypriot champions APOEL - at Wembley in this year’s group stage.

“It’s going to be a great test for us,” said Winks, speaking an hour after Spurs were drawn with the 12-times European champions. “I’ve just seen Jan [Vertonghen] has been putting stuff in the WhatsApp group. He’s so excited for it. The boys seem really up for it.”

Winks, now 21, is too young to have played alongside Modric or Bale, but he remembers watching them in training and he has followed their progress in Spain.

“I enjoy watching La Liga,” said Winks, who has Spanish grandparents. “It’s obviously slower and more passing based, whereas the Premier League has a faster tempo. Modric and Bale have managed to master both.”

Modric has won three Champions League titles since leaving Spurs in 2012 and Real’s only failure in four years - in 2015 - coincided with a long-term injury to the Croatian. Like Modric, Winks is a ball-playing midfielder and he says the 31-year-old is a particular inspiration.

“He’s a similar stature and height to me. He’s someone I can always look at and model my game on. I’m not the strongest, biggest or tallest. We both like to base our game around technique and passing. He’s someone I watch regularly and take ­inspiration from,” said Winks at the launch of the Call of Duty WWII Beta.

“There’s one or two things he’ll do that are incredible, like bring one out of the sky and chip it over someone’s head, something ridiculous like that. He’s got something you can’t teach, it’s just ability. His all-round game is just... it’s like he’s mastered football!”

Modric and Real are not the only formidable and familiar opponents in Tottenham’s group. Two years ago, Spurs were beaten 5-1 over two legs by Dortmund in the Europa League. Winks, then 19, travelled to Germany for the 3-0 defeat and was an unused substitute at the Lane.

“Just the experience of being out there, being in Dortmund’s stadium, being close to the team was good enough for me. I sat in the crowd and watched — and the atmosphere was incredible,” he said.

It is testament to Winks’s progress that Tottenham’s midfield at the Westfalenstadion that night was Ryan Mason, Tom Carroll and Joshua Onomah, while Nabil Bentaleb was on the bench. Mason, Carroll and Bentaleb have all since left the club, while Onomah is on loan at Aston Villa.

Winks, though, has established himself at Spurs and he is so highly regarded by manager Mauricio Pochettino that he already has Champions League experience, having started against eventual semi-finalists Monaco and CSKA Moscow last season.

“It’s a lot more punishing. You make a mistake, you get punished,” he said. “The players are world class - you don’t get much time on the ball and they’re a lot more intelligent off it as well, in terms of tactical awareness. You have to be fully on it to not get picked off.

“I got nervous before matches when I was younger but now I get more excited. I’m playing for Tottenham, the team I supported. I just relish it as much as I can.”

Winks believes Spurs can make strides in Europe this season, while he wants to “pick up where he left off last year” with more first-team minutes. A future England call-up is also in his sights, although he is working his way back from an ankle injury.

The next time Winks is 10 yards from Ronaldo, he will not be a flag-bearer but a standard-bearer for Spurs’ next crop of hopeful youngsters, but there is still something of the awe-struck teenager in him.

“Hopefully,” he said of playing against Real. “I have to focus and work hard now. The selection is down to the manager but it’s something I’d love to be able to do.”

Harry Winks was speaking at the Call of Duty: World War II BETA, which is available for anyone who has pre-ordered the game on PS4 or XB1. For more information visit callofduty.com/beta

