Tottenham Hotspur take on Red Star Belgrade this evening in what could be a crucial match in deciding who makes it through to the knockout stage of the Champions League.
After reaching the final of last season’s competition, if Spurs fail to make it out of Group B it would certainly be considered a disaster.
Despite comfortably beating Red Star 5-0 in North London last month, the reverse fixture in Serbia is a completely different prospect.
Red Star have never lost a home match in European Cup or Champions League against English opposition and beat eventual winners Liverpool 2-0 last season during the group stage at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.
With Tottenham failing to win an away competitive fixture since January, the odds are certainly not stacked in the favour of Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Ahead of the game, Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that his side face a difficult fixture in what will be an intense atmosphere created by the home support, who were banned from the match in N17.
Pochettino told the official Spurs site: “We need to go with the mentality to try to win, to do our job but knowing that it’s going to be difficult. We saw what happened in the last few seasons with English teams like Liverpool playing there, it’s going to be a tough atmosphere and it’s going to be difficult. The Champions League always demands your best from you.”
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