Andy's Tuesday tips - Tottenham will lose
Tottenham made a super start to their first ever Champions League campaign, topping the table and giving defending champions Inter Milan a bit of a lesson in attacking football at White Hart Lane. Their reward is a last 16 showdown with Inter's rivals AC Milan.
The good news is that this is a Milan side in transition which seems to lack the defensive solidity of yesteryear. The bad news is that they're top of the table in one of the toughest leagues in the world and have plenty of match-winners in their side - just think, their starting XI could easily feature Robinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and young Alexandre Pato.
The other concern for Harry Redknapp is that for the first leg he may have to do without one or both of the two players who were most responsible for their strong Group Stage performances: Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale, who are both struggling for fitness, with the latter ruled out.
The important thing for Spurs is that at the final whistle they're still in this tie and by that I mean they're not bringing more than a one-goal deficit back to London. And you know what? I think they're more than capable of doing that.
This may be their first season in this competition but they already seem like they belong here and none of their key players have looked fazed by the spotlight. If anything, the two matches against Inter Milan were arguably Bale's two best performances of the season.
Spurs will need to defend well and keep their discipline, we all know that, but I think they can get a positive result in the context of the tie and give themselves every chance ahead of the second leg.
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Published: 15 Feb 2011
Horace Horlicks (February 15, 2011 10:07 AM) said:
Andy,
I disagree with your opinions about the outcome of this encounter. I agree that Spurs will miss Bale and Van Der Vaart, but I have watched a lot of A.C Milan this year and they are very poor. Ibravimavich and Robinhno have both been under performing and Pato is not yet fully recovered from his injuries. Nesta is past his sell by date and they are still relying on old timers Pirlo, Saedorf and that once great striker who is now approaching 40. The standard of La Liga is low this year, a fact emphasized by Napoli ( a very average side humbled by Liverpool) being in 2nd place. I think Spurs will hold AC to a draw in the first leg and beat them easily in the home leg. My prediction for tonight: AC Milan 1 Spurs 1
Best Wishes Horace