He has been out with a 15-month injury but came off the bench to star in Tottenham's win over AC Milan.
Woodgate made a 35-minute appearance in Spurs' win at the San Siro after Vedran Corluka had to come off after being pole-axed by Mathieu Flamini's horrific two-footed lunge.
Woodgate picked up his groin problem in Tottenham's 9-1 win over Wigan in November 2009 and it was feared that the injury-plagued defender would never recover.
Jonathan Woodgate - "It was a great feeling to get back.
"There is nothing worse than when you can't play football. Watching games is painful when you're injured but you try to spur the lads on and give them all the confidence they need.
"A lot of people doubted whether I'd be able to get back but you have to show determination to not let bad times get you down and you have to just keep going."
Harry Redknapp - "I took a chance with putting Jonathan Woodgate on - he hasn't kicked a ball, he has had just one full game against a not-very-good QPR team.
"I just felt his experience would help us. It was a case of having someone in the right place at the right time and I thought he was good at that."