Champions League - Preview: FC Twente versus Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur have been having a season full of highs and lows thus far. A season where victories away to Arsenal and at home to Inter Milan have given them pedigree, but they have lacked the consistency to be a real threat to the Premier League crown.
In match day three of the Champions League group stages, they went to the San Siro to face the current European Champions Inter Milan. Even though they fell behind 4-0 before half time, they put in a commendable shift to drag the game back to 4-3. That was
almost solely thanks to Gareth Bale, a player who has been in magical form ever since the season started. He scored all three goals that night to get his first ever hat trick in the Champions League, not a small feat by any standards. Bale saw his stock rise
exponentially courtesy of that one man rescue mission, and the next game certainly didn't hurt his cause. In that next game, Inter Milan visited White Hart Lane for one of the most prestigious European nights in the club's recent history, and Bale made sure
the fans left joyous. He produced another master class with two assists to make sure the points were safe and that Tottenham overtook Inter in the group standings.
Now, Tottenham and Inter Milan both sit on ten points each with one last game each left. Tottenham face FC Twente in Holland while Inter Milan travel to Bremen, Germany to face Werder Bremen. Both teams have qualified for the knockout round of the Champions
League but both will be slugging it out for the top berth. Tottenham know that if they win, they will be top due to a superior goal difference as compared to the champions. But if they fail to win and Inter win their final match then Inter will be top and
that will expose Tottenham to a precarious situation with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich waiting in the wings for their next prey. So, Harry will know it is absolutely vital to win and avoid the bigger clubs, and he will hence warn his team of complacency,
after a good first experience in the Champions League for the club.
Harry and company will be counting on Bale to deliver the goods once more and put FC Twente to the sword and rise to the top of the group at Inter's expense. But the fact that Tottenham have other players they can turn to should the real Bale fail to turn
up is testimony to Harry Redknapp's amazing work done and to Tottenham's squad which is bustling with quality. With the likes of Luka Modric, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham have plenty of game changers should they need the
game to change.
Inter Milan and Rafa Benitez will be hoping that Tottenham slip up, and that they can beat them to the top. But expect Harry to have done his homework, and to be taking this game extremely seriously, because this one game could determine how far the team
is likely to go in the competition.
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