It won’t be much longer now before 8pm ticks by and Tottenham Hotspur begin their Nou Camp based battle against Spanish giants Barcelona in our Champions League Group Stage clash.
A place in the last 16 is open for grabs tonight by manager Mauricio Pochettino’s charges, and we only have to do one of two not so simple things:
1 – beat Barcelona outright to take all three available points.
2 – match Inter Milan’s result, which could include just gaining a draw.
We certainly can’t play for the draw, we have to go for the win and we’ve already received news that Luiz Suarez is out of the tie as he’ll be given a rest, and there are strong rumblings that Lionel Messi could also be given the night off by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde given they are through to the next stage regardless of what happens in the coming 90 minutes.
So to the team sheets, and how difficult have Barcelona made it for us?
???????? Barça XI
⚽ #BarçaSpurs pic.twitter.com/mGBYzcLre5— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 11, 2018
#THFC: Lloris (C), Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Dele, Son, Kane.
Latest odds from @WilliamHill ➡️ https://t.co/aS6OZR0QtL pic.twitter.com/U7eQh7aDzO
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 11, 2018
Some will be delighted, some won’t be – at the end of the day we need to get a result against the team in front of us. Messi is a massive player and his quality can’t be disputed but there’s no such thing as a ‘one-man team’ and I doubt our plans or preparation accounted for anything less than him playing, but we still need to make it count now he’s not.