Champions League playoff preview: Young Boys v Tottenham Hotspur
The current generation of Tottenham Hotspur players weren’t even young boys the last time their club were in European football’s top-tier competition, but now they face up to a Swiss army who are intent on plunging a knife into their season before it has really started.
Young Boys Bern stand in the way of Spurs and their promised land of the Champions League, the land that they pulled so hard to reach last season, and if Harry Redknapp’s men don’t think that they are in for a manly task at the Stade de Suisse, then they’ll be in for a surprise.
There aren’t many sides who win at Fenerbahçe’s intimidating Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, but Young Boys came of age in winning the third qualifying round second leg clash in Turkey, and Spurs – fresh from the frustration of failing to beat Manchester City’s Joe Hart at the weekend – will know that it’s all on the line for them in Switzerland, but they are already thinking of the competition proper.
“It's great to be in the Champions League again,” says goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
“I played in it for four years at PSV and I know how good it is, it's amazing to play Champions League with Tottenham now.
“We deserve it. We showed a lot of quality last season, improved a lot and now we'll see how good it is. It's the most important club competition in the world.”
They certainly did deserve to finish in the top four last season, but they’ll be mindful to recall what happened to the last “non-traditional” side to break into the Premier League’s top quartet.
Everton finished above Liverpool in fourth in the 2004/05 season and earned the chance to qualify for the Champions League – the Reds stole their neighbours’ thunder by winning the competition – but many on the blue side of Merseyside appeared to think that the qualifying round was an irrelevance.
The Blues’ end of season highlights DVD was called ‘Champions League… We’re Havin’ A Laugh!’, while t-shirts boasting about Everton’s participation in European football’s top competition were seen on Liverpool’s market stalls all summer long.
Those same t-shirts remained unsold for months though, as the Blues lost 4-2 on aggregate to Villarreal of Spain in the qualifying round – although many a Merseyside pub still hears echoes of dismay at Pierluigi Collina’s controversial decision to disallow a late Duncan Ferguson header. After dropping into the lesser Uefa Cup, Everton then lost 5-1 in Bucharest. Spurs would do well to take heed.
Their opponents are no old Champions League old hands like Villarreal, but they still fancy their chances, and are using their underdog status as a motivational factor. Many Spurs fans were celebrating after the draw, but beating Young Boys won’t be childsplay, claim the Swiss side.
“It's great that they were celebrating but, for sure, we hope that after the two games we will be celebrating," says 32-year-old former Swiss international defender Christoph Spycher, who joined Young Boys from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer.
“We had little chance against Fenerbahçe and we did it. So we believe in ourselves, we believe if we make two really perfect games that we have a chance to get through to the Champions League.
“That's a dream for us and we will work very hard for that. We're not afraid. We have a lot of respect for this team, for these players, but we're looking forward to the game.”
Spurs will be too, and while the English side will be favourites to progress over two legs, they’ll be mindful not to start thinking about the Bernabeu, the Nou Camp or the San Siro already.
Their Champions League challenge starts here in Switzerland, where they could go from just another Premier League team to a Champions League outfit. From plucky underdogs to European royalty. From underachievers to high achievers.
From boys to men.
Prediction: Young Boys 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
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