Champions League Match Day 4 - Key Clashes
One half of Champions League group phase is over and tonight will kick start the second half of the group phase with teams having another go at their opponents from match day 3.
Here are some of the key clashes of Match day 4:
Tottenham vs. Inter Milan, White Hart Lane, London – Tuesday 2nd November 2010:
Despite being novices in the Champions League, Tottenham proved to be a tough nut to crack for the defending champions on match day 3. Gareth Bale scored a mesmeric hat trick to scare the life out of Rafael Benitez side but the match still finished 4-3 in
favour of the Italians.
Tonight, Harry Redknapp’s men will welcome the Nerazurris to London and will be hoping to avenge the defeat that they suffered at the Guesseppe Meazza.
Inter Milan sit pretty at the second spot in the Italian Serie A and are currently trailing the league leaders, Lazio by four points. They have not lost in a competitive match since September and are looking good for all money to come out triumphant at White
Hart Lane tonight.
Spurs, on the other hand, are languishing in the 5th place in Premier League and suffered a moral dampening defeat at the hands of Manchester United at the weekend and are not in the best of form.
But, manager Harry Redknapp knows the importance of this clash and will have to come up with the goods if they are to harbour any hopes of making it to the knockout stages of the competition.
Players to watch
There will be plenty of super stars in action tonight in London but ones that are expected to shine will be Inter Milan’s Samuel Eto and Tottenham’s Gareth Bale.
Eto along with Diego Milito has led the Inter attack with remarkable ease and is one of the leading scorers in the Champions League. If Inter are to trouble the Spur's back four then Eto will have to be firing on all cylinders.
Same goes for Bale. In the absence of Rafael Van der Vaart, the onus will be on Gareth Bale to carry the Spur's attack on his shoulders.
Valencia vs. Rangers, Estadio Mestalla, Valencia – Tuesday 2nd November 2010:
Another mammoth clash of match day four will be played in Spain with Walter Smith’s Rangers taking on Valencia at the Estadio Mestalla. Manchester United are leading this group with 7 points and are in pole position to qualify as group winners but the fight
for the second qualification spot depends heavily on this match as whoever wins the contest tonight in Spain will greatly enhance their chances of making it to the knockout stages.
About two weeks ago, Valencia were the form team in the La Liga but since their defeat at the hands of Barcelona, their form has somewhat dipped and they are now in the fifth place in the league standings.
But, Unai Emery’s men are totally aware of what’s at stake tonight and will go to any lengths to get the victory that is needed.
Rangers, on the other hand, are sitting pretty at the top of the Scottish Premier League and have a one point cushion over their bitter rivals, Celtic FC. Rangers are also in good form having won four of their last five league encounters and will be full
of confidence going into the match tonight.
Players to watch
Ranger’s Maurice Edo and Steven Naismith have been in red hot form for their side this season and anything that Rangers do good going forward originates through them. A lot will depend on these two players if Rangers are to get a result in Spain tonight.
The other matches of Match day 4 are:
Tuesday November 2nd 2010
Bremen Vs Twente, H. Tel-Aviv Vs Schalke, Benfica Vs Lyon, Bursaspor Vs Man. United, Rubin Kazan Vs Panathinaikos, København Vs Barcelona
Wednesday 3rd November 2010
Basel Vs Roma, CFR Cluj Vs Bayern, Chelsea Vs Spartak Moskva, Žilina Vs Marseille, Auxerre Vs Ajax, Partizan Vs Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk Vs Arsenal
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