Wednesday brings us another two UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clashes which will take place in England and Germany as we look to decide another two quarter finalists.
Tottenham v AC Milan @ White Hart Lane
First Leg AC Milan 0 Tottenham 1 (Crouch 80’)
Form Tottenham are currently fifth in England’s Premier League, with a place in next season’s Champions League looking difficult to achieve. Recent results haven’t been superb with Sunday bringing a 3-3 draw at struggling Wolverhampton, although Jermain Defoe found form with a double. Prior to that, Spurs lost 3-1 at Blackpool but perhaps the Champions League has been the focus.
Milan remain in the box seat in the race for the Scudetto, sitting five points clear in Serie A. Suspended skipper Gennaro Gattuso scored the winner in the weekend’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Juventus which made it four consecutive league victories.
Team news Gareth Bale may have returned in Sunday’s draw with Wolves but he’s not fully recovered from his back injury and could miss this clash. Key midfielder Rafael van der Vaart should be available after a calf injury, while Vedran Corluka should be okay too after an ankle complaint.
Gennaro Gattuso will serve the first of his five-match ban at Spurs, after his incident with Tottenham’s Joe Jordan. Milan will also be without injured duo Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini but Kevin-Prince Boateng looks to have shaken off an ankle injury to face his former club.
Coaches
Harry Redknapp: “We’re not coming here to sit back on a 1-0 lead. My message to the players will be: ‘Let’s get after them; let’s press them back and see if we can score again because that’s our style.’ If we change our style of play then it will be difficult.”
Max Allegri: “We can qualify for the next round because we have a strong team. We lost the first leg in a pretty strange game. The second leg will be completely different, though. We feel great, mentally and physically.”
Sports Pundit prediction; Tottenham 2-2 AC Milan
Schalke 04 v Valencia @ Veltins Arena
First Leg Valencia 1 (Soldado 17’) Schalke 04 1 (Raul 64’)
Form Schalke’s current domestic form is hardly encouraging for their continental assault, as they sit all the way down in 10th in the German Bundesliga. It’s been a campaign to forget for Schalke despite the big pre-season acquisitions of Raul and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Schalke have claimed just one point in their past three Bundesliga matches, with a 1-0 loss at relegation-threatened Stuttgart coming on the weekend. But Felix Magath’s men qualified for the DFB Pokal final after beating Bayern 1-0 last week and will face second tier MSV Duisburg in the decider.
Valencia have firmed their third spot in Spain’s La Liga after a good run in recent weeks took them away from challengers Villarreal. Los Che may be a long way behind the top two, but they’ve had an impressive campaign for a cash-strapped club. In fact, they’ve claimed 28 points from their past 12 games in La Liga with Juan Mata and Pablo Hernandez starring.
Team news Schalke are without their Dutch international striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar due to a knee injury which is a major blow to their hopes. Defender Lukas Schmitz was sent off in the first leg and misses this game due to suspension. Tim Hoogland and Christian Pander are also unavailable due to injury.
Valencia striker Aritz Aduriz is fit to play after shaking off an ankle complaint, while David Albelda is available again after suspension. But Chori Dominguez and Miguel are unavailable due to injury.
Coaches
Felix Magath: “Playing for a 0-0 draw against Valencia is too risky. Experience shows that pressure tends to mount towards the end of games like this and you never know if you will be able to cope. Any late goal could be a winner, so there is no way that we will drop deep and wait.”
Unai Emery: “We can play better as a team than we did in the first leg, but the first leg is history; only this game counts now”. We have formulated a clear plan and now have to put it into action. Schalke have their own style and are a great side, which they showed with the 1-1 draw in the first leg.”
Sports Pundit prediction; Schalke 04 1-2 Valencia