Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tonight sees the opening night of Matchday 2 in the UEFA Champions League. Two English clubs are in action Tonight with Tottenham and Leicester flying the flag, these two sides had mixed fortunes in their opening ties a fortnight ago.
Tottenham’s housewarming party at Wembley didn’t go to plan as they lost 2-1 to Monaco, that loss has been the only time that Mauricio Pochettino’s side have tasted defeat so far this season and they will look to open their Champions League account tonight in Moscow when they face CSKA.
They once again do so without Harry Kane who is absent through injury but the diagnosis doesn’t seem to be as bad as first thought and he shouldn’t be absent for much longer, although it seems unlikely that he will feature against Manchester City on Sunday.
Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele both also missed the win away at Middlesbrough in Saturday but should be fit enough to return for this trip to the Russian capital. It’s fair to say that Tottenham were a much better team once Dembele came on against Monaco and they will look to him to drive from midfield from the opening whistle.
Defeat in their opening group game means the likelihood that Spurs are going to have win at least one of their three away encounters if they are to have any chance of making the Round of 16 while another defeat will make qualification an uphill struggle
The other English side in action Tonight Leicester got their debut Champions League campaign off to a flyer as they won 3-0 away at Club Briggs a couple of weeks previous
No longer the surprise package on the domestic front they will no look to pull off even bigger shocks in Europe. Tonight they play host to Portuguese giants FC Porto while looking to make two wins from two at this stage
Saturday Lunchtime saw them soundly beaten at Old Trafford as Manchester United ran out 4-1 winners. With Leicester four goals down at half time Claudio Ranieri decided it was game over and hauled off both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez in preparation for Tonight’s clash.
Islam Slimani will be a familiar face to FC Porto as he was pitted against them during his time at Sporting Lisbon, he only with Vardy will be charged with getting the goals at The King Power this evening.
Claudio Ranieri will have to tell his players to forget Saturday’s defeat and focus fully on the game ahead. After the first six weeks it looks unlikely that Leicester will finish in the top 4 this season, so if they are to return to this competition they may have to go all the way and win it.
The Heavyweight clash across Europe tonight sees Borussia Dortmund play host to holders Real Madrid. Dortmund thumped Polish Champions Legia Warsaw in the opening group game while Real left it very late to beat Sporting Lisbon. It’s never a dull encounter when these two sides meet and there is set to be more of the same tonight.
I’ll be watching Spurs tonight but whatever game you decide to watch enjoy.
