Tottenham's hopes of an upset when it faces AC Milan in this week's UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg took a serious blow with the news that Gareth Bale is still out with a back injury. Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp had been confident that Bale could recover in time to travel to the San Siro, but the 21-year-old will have to stay behind.
Bale isn't the only offensive contributor that is expected to miss the match, though. Peter Crouch and Luka Modric are not fully fit, and Jermaine Jenas is suspended.
Rafael Van der Vaart, who missed this weekend's Premier League victory over Sunderland, is battling a calf injury, but reports suggest he will be in Redknapp's squad.
The injuries could provide major implications on Spurs' offense, which has scored a European-best 18 goals in Champions League play this season.
Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:
TERRY NO LONGER SHOE-IN FOR STARTING XI
January signing David Luiz is expected to start in Monday's Chelsea-Fulham London derby, adding more pressure on captain John Terry.
According to reports out of England, manager Carlo Ancelotti told Terry that his place in the starting lineup is no longer guaranteed and that he plans to use a rotation including Terry, David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic and Alex in central defense going forward.
FAVRE APPOINTED M'GLADBACH MANAGER
Borussia Monchengladbach has named Lucian Favre as its new manager following the abrupt sacking of Michael Frontzeck over the weekend. The 53-year-old Favre, a former Swiss international, will take over the club starting Tuesday and will face the daunting task of saving a club that currently sits at the bottom of the Bundesliga table.
Monchengladbach, which loaned American International Michael Bradley to Aston Villa in January, has conceded a record 56 goals in the Bundesliga this season.
OSASUNA FIRES CAMACHO
Osasuna is in the market for a new manager after firing Jose Antonio Camacho.
Camacho, a former player and coach for Spain and Real Madrid (among other teams), was in his third year at the helm of Osasuna. Although the club is just three points behind 12th-place Hercules, Osasuna currently sits in the relegation zone, with just 22 points from 23 games. Among its five victories this season is a 1-0 triumph over Real Madrid.
Reports in Spain suggest that former Valldolid coach Jose Luis Mendilibar is the favorite to take over for Camacho.
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Do you think Tottenham can hang with AC Milan without Bale and Van der Vaart? How do you see Terry's benching going over at Stamford Bridge? Do you see Favre being successful at Monchengladbach? Think Osasuna should have let Camacho go?
Share your thoughts below.
Got lucky?
I’m sorry, but a player on your team being unstoppable does not make you merely lucky. It’s not that Maicon didn’t try to stop Bale. He did. He just couldn’t. That’s nothing for “the Spurs” to apologize for.
Cassano is cup tied. Surely an expert such as yourself should know that, no?
Probably because they got lucky vs Inter do to only 1 guy who Inter was too dumb to realize was burning them with speed and didn’t stop him from running wild and I guess Pato, Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Nesta, Silva and Seedorf might have something to do with it?
Too bad Ronaldinho is not there is not there anymore, but I’m sure Cassano will have fun with the Spurs, just be glad Boateng and Pirlo are out!
Also Inter was coached by Rafa at the time, enough said, look at them since Wesley came back!
“Tottenham’s hopes of an upset when it faces AC Milan”
The last time I checked, Spurs won their group (arguably the group of death). Not so sure why Spurs are considered underdogs by winning the group against a team who finished second…
Ivanovic/Dempsey match-up could be a physical one. Even if Bosigwa wasn’t injured, I wonder if Ancelotti would have started Ivanovic on the right to neutralize the aerial threat there. I’m interested to see AJ go up against Terry too.
Just a friendly heads up, it’s “shoo-in,” not “shoe in” đŸ˜‰
Apparently he wasn’t benched. He’s in the 11. “henrywinter Henry Winter
#cfc: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Essien, Ramires, Lampard; Anelka, Torres, Malouda. Drogba on bench”
Games like this is when legends are made. It’s up to the fringe players to step it up.
I don’t think you start Crouch – didn’t they say he’s not fully fit? I thank Pav is far better as the lone striker any way. VDV will play deeper in an almost 4-5-1 system. Away, in Europe, you have to minimize damage at this point. Keep it down to a goal difference and they will have a chance.
Can’t wait!
Amazed it took this long. The man has lost two or three steps over the past few years.
He should move to Serie A. They love old, slow defenders.
If Spurs can keep it within one and score an away goal, they should be fine for the home leg when they should have Bale, Modric, and VDV back to full strength. My lineup guess is:
————Gomes———–
-Corluka–Gallas-Dawson–BAE-
Pienaar-Jenas-Sandro-Kranjcar
————VDV————-
————–Crouch——–
COYS!
and/or someone in favor of not misrepresenting selective quotes.
also when i first read this headline, i was trying to decide if it was for Chelsea or England. i wonder which one is more competitive to keep a starting role? id say Chelsea…
Is this John Terry’s mum?
good call. outfield players are often rotated, defenders less than midfield and forwards, but still the fact that he might miss out on 2-3 games should not be read “starting place in jeopardy”.
that said i find it soo annoying that the mega-clubs stock up on star players only to have them on the bench or playing supporting roles, which the usually are not good at. Chelsea is case in point! they didn’t need Torres and Luiz they just spend money to make sure all other clubs are inferior… its kind of sad..
im not advocating for a salary cap but you wonder what it would be like with it.. ? midlevel teams would defiantly have more top talent.
there is one quote, “With David Luiz we can have more rotation with our players,” said Ancelotti. “In the back four now we have a lot of opportunity to choose a player to give someone a rest and to maintain every player fit for the rest of the season.” what in the hell makes you think that JT is benched? Shoddy journalism at it’s worst.
150,000 a week. But how much money Chelsea makes by going to the Champions League and winning domestic trophies is worth all the money they pay their players.
Whats Terry getting paid a week again? $200,000?
oh it says 150,000pounds a week, not sure what the currency exchange rate is these days…but to make these guys less overpaid I just think of baseball contracts and how much Roger Clemens was getting
Roger Clemens making a prorated $28000022 to join the Yankees … AL East—that works out to about $46700 per out and $8700 per pitch
So Terry slept with Ancelotti’s wife this time then?
He almost wound up with DC United. Still not clear if he backed off or whether the team decided not to make him an offer.
Either way, this is probably a better place for him — so, not everything’s working out badly.
…I think he’s in trouble even if he keeps the sexting to a minimum.
As a Chelsea Supporter I like the fact that Terry has been put in his place. Honestly I think that an Alex Luiz pairing would work very well. Terry is just too damn slow anymore.
Hahaha. John Terry benched. Awesome.
Not a good year to be a Favre… wonder how it’ll work out for this one.
The fact that Milan don’t have Pirlo or KPB is encouraging. Should be able to hang tough with Pienaar, Kranjcar (who I have now dubbed Van der Char) Palacios/Sandro and Lennon in midfield. Just hope we don’t lose the game in the first five minutes.