LONDON, March 7: After recovering from gallbladder surgery, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte will be back on the sidelines in the Champions League.
Conte’s return for the second leg of the round of 16 against AC Milan on Wednesday, trailing 1-0 after the first game, is a boost for a team fighting to keep its season on track.
In three days last week, the London team was eliminated from the FA Cup by second-division club Sheffield United and saw its hopes of securing a Champions League qualifying spot in the Premier League dented by a 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton.
Conte, back after two-and-a-half weeks recuperating in Turin, is focused on the matches ahead.“We live for this type of game. We live for this type of moment because when the pressure is going up, it means your level is going up,” Conte said Tuesday. “Don’t forget last season we play Conference League and instead this season we are playing Champions League. We won our group, the first leg we lost 1-0 and we have possibility tomorrow to beat Milan and then to go to the next round.” Conte’s burst of positivity could help lift the gloom over Tottenham after the disappointment of last week. But they will need more than just that against Milan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Tottenham had more than 20 attempts on goal at Wolves and will have to be more clinical against a solid Milan team which has proved itself defensively strong of late. Milan also lost over the weekend 2-1 at Fiorentina but had won its past four matches without conceding a goal.
The Italian champions also have Mike Maignan back. The goalkeeper was a crucial part of Milan’s Serie A-winning campaign last season but has only just returned to action playing in the past two matches after five months out with injury.
Milan, though, has struggled on the road. The team has won only one of its past five matches away from San Siro, losing three of the others. Last season, the team lost only one of its away matches in Serie A while winning 14 of them. Pioli said he already knows what team he will use “more or less,” but Milan could be without Olivier Giroud. The veteran forward missed Monday’s training session with the flu.Forward Brahim Díaz, who scored the goal in the first leg, is also a doubt.
Advantage Bayern
Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann wants his team to “get at” Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Kylian Mbappé wants to add more goals to his PSG scoring record.
They will get their chance on Wednesday when Bayern tries to defend its 1-0 lead in the second leg of the round of 16.Bayern won the first leg in Paris with a goal from former PSG player Kingsley Coman, but the team’s approach in the return match will be closely watched.
Under Nagelsmann, Bayern tends to defend one-goal leads by trying to score two or three more. Keeping up the attacking pressure worked in the group stage against Inter Milan and Barcelona, neither of which could score against Bayern, but it could allow PSG opportunities to get back into the game. Both teams are without key players ahead of Wednesday’s game.
Sadio Mane missed the first leg with the leg injury, has since returned to action and came off the bench in Bayern’s last two games.
Still, Bayern remains without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and defender Hernandez.
PSG is without Neymar after the Brazilian was ruled out for the rest of the season on Monday with an ankle injury, Right back Achraf Hakimi is in PSG’s squad for the game after he was given preliminary charges in a rape investigation last week.(AP)
