Nigeria Content Online

Tottenham wll play their biggest group game at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza tonight, against defending champions, Inter Milan.

Though this is the
first meeting between the two sides, a known face will be in the Inter
Milan dugout – former Liverpool Manager, Rafael Benitez.

Tottenham manager,
Harry Redknapp can even be named the architect of Benitez’s departure
from Anfield. Redknapp had led his side to fourth place on the league
table last season thereby demoting Liverpool from its avowed place in
the ‘Big 4’ for the first time since 2005.

Inter stand third
on the Serie A log, while their opponents moved into fourth place
courtesy of a controversial goal against Fulham on Saturday.

But all that will prove to be academic in tonight’s clash.

Though the spectre
of Jose Mourinho still looms large at the San Siro, Benitez has enjoyed
a good start to life in Italy and has lost only one match, very
narrowly to Roma, a fortnight ago.

And even though,
there have been unconfirmed reports of disaffection among some of his
players over his methods, the Spaniard should be able to bring his
Champions League experience to bear on this match.

Samuel Eto’o will
be the arch-proponent for the Italian champions but they are missing
the guile and steel of Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso, in attack
and midfield respectively.

This will be
Tottenham’s toughest test yet, but Harry Redknapp will be without
influential midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, who was dismissed in their
last match against FC Twente.

Arsenal’s manager is giving the nod to Inter to win this match. He said experience should count for the Italians.

“I have to give
Internazionale the nod in their Group A match against Tottenham
Hotspur. However, when they are playing at home Spurs can cause
problems for any team because they play with such high intensity for
the whole 90 minutes.

“Just as I do,
Inter manager Rafa Benitez knows that very well from his time at
Liverpool, so he will be very careful when he approaches the return
fixture at White Hart Lane. I believe that Inter’s experience will make
the difference though.”

Stand-in captain, Tom Huddlestone said it would be a dream come true when he leads his side out at the San Siro today.

“When you are a kid
growing up, you want to be part of games like this. Going to the San
Siro is special and it adds extra spice that Inter are the holders of
the competition.

“When you look
through their team, they won everything possible last season and most
of them were at the World Cup. It will be a massive game for us.
They’ve had a change of manager in the summer but they’ve had a good
start, especially in the Champions League. They are full of
international players who are at the top of their game. It will be a
special game.”

Redknapp will no
doubt opt for a 4-5-1 formation as his team lines up away from home,
and Crouch will be hoping for a starting berth to ruin his former
manager Rafa Benitez’s night.

Possible lineup
Inter: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Walter Samuel, Christian Chivu;
Javier Zanetti, Wesley Sneijder, Dejan Stankovic; Joel Chukwumma,
Samuel Eto’o, Coutinho.

Tottenham: Huerlho
Gomes; Alain Hutton, William Gallas, Sébastien Bassong, Benoit
Assou-Ekotto; Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Wilson Palacios, Gareth
Bale, Luca Modric, Peter Crouch.

Manchester United and Rooney

While Manchester
United are expected to get all three points against Turkish visitors,
Bursaspor, the real drama is the apparent fallout between Alex Ferguson
and his star striker, Wayne Rooney. Rooney was dropped to the
substitutes’ bench in the galling 2-2 draw at home to West Brom and
another substitute appearance will fan the flame of the England man’s
exit rumours.

Hapoel vs Schalke

Vincent Enyeama
will be hoping to keep a clean sheet for Hapoel tel-Aviv at the Arena
AufSchalke and help his side to their first points in a maiden campaign
as they face Schalke 04. The German side also have to start getting the
points after a less than desired start to the season both domestically
and in Europe.

Rangers vs Valencia

Rangers are yet to
concede a goal and another clean could see them eyeing the next round.
But there is the distraction of a crucial Old Firm game on Sunday
against second-placed Celtic so expect a Valencia squad to get stuck in
to recover the points lost on home soil to Manchester United.

Rangers’ manager,
Walter Smith said: “The Champions League is an unforgiving environment
but the next game is vital for us in terms of European football in the
New Year. If, and it’s a big if, we could manage to beat Valencia at
home, I think that would go a long way to securing some kind of
European football after January.”

Valencia’s play maker, Juan Mata does not see the match as a decider of anything in the group.

“It will be a very important game against Rangers, but I don’t think
it will be decisive because there are still three matches to go after
the one in Glasgow. We have back-to-back games against Rangers and we
will try to win them and put ourselves in a strong position to qualify
from the group.”