Are Tottenham Hotspur the Champions League best bet?
With the first leg of the Champions League last 16 having been played what can we learn from the English sides’ performances?
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea both drew against Juventus and Barcelona respectively in their Champions League games while Manchester City and Liverpool enjoyed easy wins against weak opponents.
For their part Manchester United produced an underwhelming and lethargic performance in Wednesday night’s Champions League last 16 tie away to Sevilla.
Paul Pogba was again left out of the team and only an early injury to Anders Herrera gave him the chance to come on. Even when he did his influence was minimal and United had few goal-scoring opportunities in the game.
Starting without your most gifted attacking player, Pogba and putting Juan Mata up front instead of either Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial just seems inexplicable.
Granted Sevilla represented more of a substantial opponent than either Manchester City or Liverpool face in their last 16 ties. But in truth shouldn’t United be capable of beating teams like these, especially if they want to be taken seriously as potential winners?
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United seem light years away from matching the kind of football being played by their neighbours Manchester City. The inspired total football seen at the Etihad Stadium is setting a new template.
But although City have been producing some brilliant attacking football this season they have still to come up against one of the other heavyweights in the Champions League.
And City do sometimes betray hints of defensive vulnerability as was shown by their surprise defeat to Wigan in the FA Cup. Could these lapses come back to haunt them later on in the Champions League?
Liverpool scored five against a poor Porto side and they also have chronic inconsistencies at the back. You feel that Liverpool are always a defensive mistake in the making.
What of the two London clubs? In truth only Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur played bona fide top draw opponents in their matches and both teams ended up with a draw.
Chelsea produced a solid performance against a Barcelona team still not quite the same side without Neymar. Chelsea had a deserved lead until a defensive lapse allowed Lionel Messi to break his scoring duck against the Stamford Bridge club.
A 1-0 win would have represented a decent first leg result for Chelsea although probably not enough without a goal at the Camp Nou. Conceding that goal gave Barcelona the edge as it’s almost guaranteed they will find the net at home in the return leg.
Tottenham produced a very creditable performance in Turin to secure a 2-2 draw, crucially with two away goals as well. They often controlled possession and dominated much of the game although they were exposed a few times on the break.
Juventus, like Chelsea’s opponents Barcelona, don’t seem the side of a year or two ago. But they are still a dangerous outfit with plenty of European experience to call on.
Spurs though showed great mental resolve in coming back from conceding such an early goal and would seem to be strong favourites to go through now.
And despite Manchester City’s outstanding football this season, Tottenham might possibly be the best equipped of the English sides to win the Champions League.
They have a strong consistent defence well supported in midfield by Eric Dier and Moussa Dembele. Going forward they can call on the craft and goals of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and of course Harry Kane, who might be the best striker in Europe at the moment.
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With Eriksen’s return from injury his influence is obvious and he could be a key to Spurs success. Their Wembley hoodoo seems to be behind them now too.
Spurs have also consistently risen to the challenge in this season’s Champions League. And their 3-1 win over Real Madrid during the group stage was probably the best performance of the competition so far.