Nothing beats European football. After successfully navigating four rounds of Europa League knockouts to claim the trophy in Bilbao last season, Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth in the League Phase of this year’s Champions League to earn a bye into the Round of 16, which kicks off this week. As an elite European side, Spurs will begin the Knockout Phase on the road before the second leg next week in North London.
The draw has Tottenham facing Atletico Madrid, who finished 14th in the League Phase.
A 7-4 win on aggregate over Club Brugge earned the Spanish side a spot in this round after a 4-1-3 performance earlier in the competition, including losses to Liverpool and Arsenal (both in England). Atleti is comfortably top four in La Liga, but who needs to focus on domestic performance, right??
UCL Round of 16: First Leg
Date: Tuesday, March 10
Time: 4:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK
Location: Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid, Spain
TV: Paramount+ (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)
No doubt, this is a difficult draw, but think about the list of top clubs Spurs have now faced in the past decade: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atleti, Bayern, Dortmund, Juve, Inter, AC Milan, PSG – just about every European giant has been a Champions League opponent in recent history. A trip to Madrid is a little bittersweet considering Tottenham’s last visit there, but that in itself speaks to the club’s qualifications in this competition.
Two Things to Watch
Flipped script
While Diego Simeone built his reputation on an extremely rigid defense and frustrating tactics, the League Phase actually saw Atleti rank in the bottom half in terms of goals allowed, but tied for eighth in goals scored. Though their league form is closer to what one might expect traditionally, this squad will not just sit in its shell but will instead look for opportunities to take the ball and score.
That is…not a good feeling for this Spurs side, which continues to make needless mistake after needless mistake. It is not hard to envision someone like Julian Alvarez or Alexander Sorloth carving through this defense, or worse: Ademola Lookman. Though Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are not suspended for this match (what a wild statement), Simeone is likely to be aggressive.
Still, even with a surprisingly meek defensive performance in the League Phase, this is not exactly an easy team to break down. Tottenham’s Champions League performances have definitely been better on the road, and this is a difficult location to play. Staying alive for the second leg is the objective, but this tie could absolutely feel over after the first 90 minutes.
Distraction
Perhaps the question then becomes if that would actually be for the best. While Spurs must avoid relegation at all costs, it is difficult to simply punt away the knockout rounds in Europe, especially this competition. For whatever reason, Tottenham has looked like a completely different club against foreign sides, and while this year will not end with a trophy, a shocking run is not out of the cards.
Another reason to put some stock in Tuesday is that a trip to Liverpool over the weekend is unlikely to break the skid in the league. While the Reds are juggling European competition of their own (and will arguably prioritize it over the Premier League at this point), it still would be far from guaranteed that looking past Atleti for the trip to Liverpool will yield any sort of benefit.
So, just embrace this. Igor Tudor might not last much longer, and whatever is left of the foundation of this club might be too far gone to save. But at least for one more round of this competition, we can ignore the problems back home and witness Spurs on the biggest stage. This could be the last time in the Champions League for quite a while.
