Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch back Tottenham to reach Champions League quarter-finals despite AC Milan defeat
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Published 14/02/2023 at 23:16 GMT
Brahim Diaz scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for AC MIlan at the San Siro in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. The Rossoneri missed two golden opportunities late on to enhance their advantage going into the next match between the teams in March. Ferdinand and Crouch think the home crowd will work in Tottenham's favour for them to overturn the deficit.
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Rio Ferdinand thinks Tottenham are favourites to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals, despite their 1-0 first-leg defeat against AC Milan in the last 16.
Brahim Diaz got the only goal of the game for the hosts at the San Siro as the Italian side missed two glorious late chances, meaning they only have a slender lead to take to London in March.
Speaking on BT Sport after the match, Ferdinand said, “I think Spurs will be the more confident team going into the second leg.
"Home tie at their home ground. You’d like to think they’ve got their two big players in midfield - [Rodrigo] Bentancur and [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg - back in.
“With that little bit more steel and grit in there and that ability to unlock the team, I think [Antonio] Conte will be a bit more confident going into the game.”
Harry Kane was starved of service during the match and was reduced to minimal involvement as Milan restricted Tottenham to just three shots on target.
Ferdinand thinks the Spurs striker will have his say in the tie yet, saying, “Harry Kane will get more opportunities, he’ll have more influence on the game.
"You’ll have a better version of Son [Heung-min]. These are all ifs, buts and maybes but when I played in the Champions League home advantage was massive.”
Former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch agreed with Ferdinand but said “Spurs fans will be frustrated, it was an awful start”, as Diaz scored after just seven minutes.
“Milan could’ve been out of sight today, let’s not dress it up. They had two gilt-edged opportunities in the last few minutes there, could’ve been three.
“This isn’t a great Milan side and there are difficulties but the biggest thing is they’re still in with the chance and you’d think, getting them back to Spurs, you’d still fancy Tottenham”, Crouch added.
Following their 4-1 Premier League thrashing at Leicester in their previous match, former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas admits defensive frailties continue to worry him.
Cristian Romero and Eric Dier both lost individual challenges in the build-up to the only goal at the San Siro, with Jenas particularly concerned about Dier’s performance, saying, “There’s no real aggression to his play.
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AC Milan v Tottenham
Image credit: Eurosport
“It was mistake after mistake and a reoccurring theme following on from a terrible defensive display, from all of them by the way, against Leicester. That’s a big, big negative. You can’t afford those things in the Champions League, in the knockout stages. If they do that in the return leg, they’ve got no chance.”
Crouch sympathises with supporter frustration and says the performance in Milan shows why their squad needs bolstering with more quality.
“At the moment, it’s doom and gloom. Tottenham fans aren’t happy with the whole situation. There have been a lot of mumblings about the board, about the signings. You look at it today and you’re in a Champions League knockout game and, with all due respect, [Oliver] Skipp and [Pape Matar] Sarr, did brilliantly today, but it’s not what you want to be going in with.
“The squad’s not good enough at Tottenham at the moment.”
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