Event of the Day: Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester City
Our event of the day is the Quarter-final first leg in the UEFA Champions League between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Spurs’ brand-new ground. The aptly named Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened its doors to 60,000 excited supporters last week as Spurs beat Crystal Palace in the Premier League and they’ll be looking for a similar result from tonight’s affair. However, Man City’s supporters will hope to spoil the party and they themselves have even loftier expectations from this campaign as they remain on track to pull off an unprecedented quadruple, having booked their place in the FA Cup final at the weekend. For Tottenham, the quarterfinals of the Champions League is almost unchartered territory, having reached this stage only once before in their history. On their last appearance in the last eight, they were dismantled by Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid side, who overcame the London side 5-0 on aggregate.
However, the Tottenham faithful will believe their squad is much better suited to deal with such an occasion this time round and will be well aware that they can beat anyone in world football whenever Harry Kane pulls on the number 10 jersey. The England captain has already scored 24 times in all competitions this term, including five in the Champions League, and he will be integral to his side’s chances of progressing to the final four. However, Mauricio Pochettino will be mindful that tonight’s opponents have a talisman of their own in Sergio Agüero. Though Pochettino’s compatriot was left out of City’s squad for their FA Cup Semi-final, he has since returned to training and remains likely to feature in tonight’s clash. Agüero has notched 29 times already and averages a goal every 94 minutes, which makes grim reading for Tottenham fans who will endure at least 270 minutes of football against Pep Guardiola’s side over the next fortnight. Whilst Tottenham should be the fresher of the two sides, having had three days extra rest since their last game, City will still be the overwhelming favourites to overcome the added pressure of playing at Spurs’ new stadium to book a Semi-final place. It should be a thrilling game of football this evening.
Honourable mentions around the globe go to the NBA where the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Houston Rockets at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. For the Rockets, this will be their last outing in the regular season and though they will be eager to notch the win, coach Billy Donovan will certainly have one eye towards the playoffs which could see him rest some of his stars tonight. Elsewhere, there is more Champions League action to watch out for as Liverpool welcome Porto to Anfield where Jürgen Klopp’s men will look to gain an advantage going into the second leg later this month. There is a top of the table clash in the Indian Premier League as the Chennai Super Kings host the Kolkata Knight Raiders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. In the tennis, there is an exciting match to watch out for at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, where world number 3 Alexander Zverev will do battle with Uzbek Denis Istomin. Finally, there is plenty of MLB action on offer tonight as the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Texas Rangers whilst the Chicago White Sox will entertain the Tampa Bay Rays at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!
Photos by UEFA