Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Rob Guest

Champions League draw could be about to highlight Tottenham transfer regrets to Fabio Paratici

Eintracht Frankfurt

Antonio Conte and Tottenham will be fairly pleased with the team they are set to face from Pot 1 in the Champions League group stage. Given the real possibility of coming up against Real Madrid, PSG or Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt were instead the side plumped from the pot.

Certainly by no means an easy game at all for the Lilywhites, the German outfit were perhaps seen as the weakest team amongst the top seeds. However, you have to have something about you to go all the way in the Europa League and win the famous trophy, as they did back in May when they beat Rangers on penalties.

Barcelona will be the first to admit that Frankfurt can cause teams big problems, especially after seeing them race into a convincing three-goal lead at the Camp Nou in April in their Europa League quarter-final tie. Finishing 11th in the Bundesliga last term and currently 15th after failing to win in their first three games, Oliver Glasner's side will no doubt come alive once the Champions League group stage commences.

READ MORE: Tottenham transfer strategy may impact Japhet Tanganga and Bryan Gil deals ahead of deadline day

Spurs will also be greeted by an intense atmosphere at the Deutsche Bank Park when they make the trip to Frankfurt, with the home fans set to give Harry Kane and co a rather hostile welcome. Maybe a favourable draw from Pot 1, Conte's team will have to be at their very best if they are to get the better of Frankfurt.

Sporting CP

Eric Dier will be counting down the days until he returns to Estadio Jose Alvalade after coming through Sporting's system as a youngster. As well as a reunion for Tottenham's No.15, Marcus Edwards will come up against Tottenham for the first time since departing the club permanently in September 2019.

Excelling for Vitoria de Guimaraes following his switch to Portugal, the 23-year-old linked up with Sporting at the start of the year and has since registered four goals and five assists in 18 games for his new club. Sporting may have had a mixed start to the new campaign but the Enfield-born attacker has so far contributed with one goal and two assists.

If he does impress in the two games against Tottenham, it may well leave Fabio Paratici questioning the club's decision to part with the exciting youngster.

Progressing from Champions League Group C last season after finishing in second ahead of Borussia Dortmund, their European campaign came to an end in the Round of 16 with Man City defeating them 5-0 over two legs. Losing key players Joao Palhinha and Matheus Nunes to the Premier League this summer, the Lisbon-based club will still be a tough opponent for Spurs as they look to make the knockout phase once again.

Marseille

Set to face an intense atmosphere in Frankfurt, it will be exactly the same for Tottenham when they make the trip to Stade Velodrome to take on Marseille. Although they were one of the eight teams in Pot 4, the French side will be happy with the draw and confident of a top-two finish.

Finishing second behind PSG in Ligue 1 last term, Marseille also reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League but were defeated by Feyenoord 3-2 on aggregate. Tottenham fans will certainly be familiar with a number of Igor Tudor's players with plenty of them having Premier League connections.

Signing former Arsenal players Matteo Guendouzi and Alexis Sanchez on permanent deals this summer to join Sead Kolasinac at the Velodrome, the French team also have Nuno Tavares on loan from the Gunners. West Ham cult hero Dimitri Payet is captain of Marseille and they also now have Eric Bailly on the books after he joined on loan from Manchester United.

Former Tottenham shot-stopper Pau Lopez is also the club's No.1 after joining on a permanent deal from Roma at the start of July. The Spaniard may not have made a competitive appearance for Spurs in his year on loan at the club in 2016/17 but he has since demonstrated that he is a very capable goalkeeper after representing Espanyol and Real Betis as well as Roma and Marseille.

With Spurs having a different second-choice goalkeeper on the bench in the past three seasons, Lopez has the chance to show Tottenham that they maybe made a mistake in not signing him permanently.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.