Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that he fears racist abuse when his side travel to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lazio-c39775 in the Europa League.
Spurs will face Lazio tonight in Italy in the reverse fixture of last month’s game that ended 0-0 at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham need a victory tonight in order to ensure their qualification to the knock-out stages of the tournament, and a win tonight will go a long way in helping Tottenham regain their momentum and form.
The team is fresh from three consecutive defeats in the league, and the pressure is piling on manager Andre Villas-Boas, whose team badly need a result to boost their morale and confidence.
The game against Lazio last month had ended in controversy, with the travelling Italian supporters guilty of shouting racist chants and abuses at the Tottenham players, particularly http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aaron-Lennon-c3062.
The atmosphere had been tense, and the game was overshadowed by this incident. Since then, UEFA has fined Lazio for the behaviour of its fans, but Villas-Boas still has concerns regarding the reception his team will receive tonight.
The Portuguese believes that a fine is not enough to stop supporters from behaving in the manner that they do, and is concerned about tonight’s game. He urged the authorities to take further action to reduce this sort of behaviour and said:
“UEFA decided to punish Lazio, and rightly so, but it doesn’t mean that these incidents won’t happen again. We hope they won’t but if it does we hope the players will be in the right frame of mind to let the governing bodies deal with those situations at
the end of the game.”
Steven Caulker is expected to start for Tottenham tonight, and the 20-year old is confident of his side’s chances. The centre-half is hoping to impress http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 national team manager Roy Hodgson by putting up a solid performance tonight. When asked about
the racism incident and the atmosphere in Italy, he replied:
“I think Lazio will be a tough test, but we are ready for it. I am not worried about the atmosphere here. My hopes and aims are that football does the talking. Italy is a great footballing country so I hope that will be the talking point.”
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