Real Madrid Vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Tottenham Lineups

Gareth Bale, the man with the £80M price tag, is fit to start against Real Madrid in the first leg of Tottenham Hotspur’s battle to reach the Champions League semifinal places. His right-sided counterpart Aaron Lennon is also available to play has been taken sick, but centre half William Gallas is also to make a comeback ahead to schedule to alleviate Harry Rednapp’s injury concerns somewhat. Tom Huddlestone, however, is unable to crack the starting XI.

Tottenham are playing in their now-familiar 4-4-1-1 shape which sees Rafael van der Vaart function as a withdrawn striker/attacking playmaker just behind Peter Crouch, who’ll force Madrid into playing a very high line to keep the lanky striker out of the box. This should provide plenty of space for Bale to run into - he should be able to beat his direct opponent in terms of sheer pace and will probably provide Spurs’ biggest offensive threat.

Luka Modric and Sandro are the central midfielders, and Modric in particular will have to put in a superb display to keep Tottenham from being overwhelmed in the centre of the pitch. They’ll both have to be very wary of Mesut Ozil drifting away from the middle and drawing them outside, though. Meanwhile, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Vedran Corluka provide solid defence at fullback, while the Gomes-Dawson-Gallas unit has a chance of keeping out the Real attack. It’s just not a particularly good one.

Substitutes: Carlo Cudicini, Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Jermain Defoe, Sebastian Bassong, Niko Kranjcar.