The good news for Tottenham Hotspur is that they control their own destiny when it comes to qualifying for the UEFA Champions League knockout round. The bad news is that their destiny is a must win road match at FC Barcelona. Did we mention that Barcelona are undefeated in their last 28 UCL home matches?
Spurs attacking midfielder Dele Alli says his team is heading to Catalonia with confidence, aware that Barca could make mistakes just like any other team.
“We’re definitely going there with confidence. We know it’s going to be a difficult game, but they’re human, and everyone makes mistakes,” the English international said.
“We’ve got to make sure we punish them and try to be as on it as we can be. These are the games you want to be part of, playing one of the best teams in the world with some of the world’s greatest players.”
“You want to be challenging yourself. We’re going there with the mentality that we can win, and we have to believe. How would a win rank among our best results? It would definitely be up there.”
Spurs are currently level on points with Inter Milan in Group B, but the Serie A side is hosting last place PSV Eindhoven on the final group stage match day. Making things even more difficult for Alli and company is a precarious fitness situation at right-back.
Both Kieran Trippier (re-occurring groin problem) and Serge Aurier are doubts for this crunch clash. The former is not expected to make the trip to Barca while the latter was forced off late in the win at Leicester City on the weekend.
Additionally, Erik Lamela (thigh) is a doubt, while Davison Sánchez (hamstring), Mousa Dembélé (ankle), and Victor Wanyama (knee) are all sidelined for this one.
Flipping over to the hosts, Malcom is ruled out due to a sprained ankle. The Brazilian joins Rafinha (cruciate), Sergi Roberto (hamstring), Samuel Umtiti (knee) and Arthur (knee) on the injured reserve list at the Catalan club.
Tottenham Hotspur vs FC Barcelona FYIs
Kick-off: 8pm (BST), Tuesday December 11th, Camp Nou
Google Result Probability: FC Barcelona Win 45%, Draw 27%, Tottenham Hotspur Win 30%
Odds via Odds Checker: FC Barcelona win 9/8, draw 13/4, Tottenham win 9/4
Tottenham Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: FC Barcelona 4, Tottenham Hotspur 2
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.