Leipzig vs Tottenham: Spurs aim to get themselves out of mini-funk
Tottenham will be hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit as they travel to face Leipzig for the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash on Tuesday.
Jose Mourinho’s men have been in awful form since losing 1-0 to the ambitious German side last month. Since then, they have lost four of their last five games across all competitions, including being knocked out by relegation candidates Norwich City via penalties in the FA Cup. They also were beaten by Wolves and drew with Burnley – two smaller teams that they really expected to pick up maximum points against.
Certainly, a sense of desperation hasn’t kicked in yet. Although Tottenham are out of the running for the FA Cup and the Premier League, they are still viable in the Champions League. But they will have to deal with a very determined Leipzig side who are really eager to book their spot in the quarter-finals. For a team founded only back in 2009, Leipzig have been desperate to make their mark on the bigger stage, rocketing up the ranks of German football to the Bundesliga in almost record time. They first qualified for the Champions League only in 2017, but despite being dumped out at the group stage, made a very solid run to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Yet, after failing to get off the ground in last year’s Europa League, they will surely be hoping to try to cause waves in this year’s Champions League. After all, they’re into the knockout rounds for the first time in their very young history and are just 90 minutes away from a quarter-final.
Leipzig may have lost their grip on top spot in the Bundesliga, but that’s no surprise. No one expected Bayern to be totally down and out for that long, and although die Roten have had their ups and downs, they are guaranteed to at least win some kind of silverware this season. And that will be the Bundesliga title, a trophy they’ve dominated for quite some time now – barring, of course, another shocking collapse between now and May. Although they’re missing Robert Lewandowski, Bayern are no one-man squad, and clearly have shown they can manage just fine without the Polish star, with players like Serge Gnabry being the clear beneficiary of getting more playing time in his absence.
The hosts come into this game unbeaten in their last five fixtures and are in much better form than Tottenham, who are facing an injury crisis at the moment. Stars like Harry Kane, Son-Heung Min, and Moussa Sissoko are all out due to varying injuries, while Leipzig have received a huge boost with Timo Werner being likely to feature after shaking off an injury of his own.
Last season, Spurs made it all the way to the final, only to be beaten by Liverpool. It was their first-ever Champions League final appearance. Now they are 90 minutes away from being eliminated at just the first hurdle. Will they be able to turn things around to effectively kick-start their season? Having slid down the table back into eighth place, time is also running out for them to close the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea in the battle for a much-coveted Champions League berth. This game could just be the impetus a very frustrated Mourinho needs to turn his team’s season around as he attempts to restore some order within the Spurs ranks.
Of course, young manager Julian Naglesmann – who made history a few seasons back as the youngest ever manager in Bundesliga history – will have other plans as he seeks to help steer his young, hungry side towards a historic quarter-finals spot and beyond.
