Igor Tudor has acknowledged Tottenham’s foremost precedence is Premier League survival, however urged them to make use of the Champions League to change momentum.
Spurs are again at Atlético Madrid’s Riyadh Air Metropolitano for the primary time since they misplaced to Liverpool within the 2019 Champions League last and the north London membership are mired in a relegation battle after an 11-match winless league run this 12 months.
Already with an eight-player damage record, any additional absentees might harm Tottenham’s hopes of staying up and Tudor agreed when requested if Tuesday’s round-of-16 first-leg tie was a free hit and an opportunity to strive some new concepts.
“I agree with both things,” Tudor stated.
“As I said, focus on us, playing a team who has a story in this Champions League, what they have experienced, they have quality.
“We must do our greatest in phrases that we have to develop, as you stated additionally as a result of our first intention is the Premier League, this must be stated publicly.
“This is a normal thing that this [Champions League] is something extra, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to pass to the next round.
“Of course, it is crucial. It’s necessary.
“We have to grow, so it can be an opportunity. A totally different mentality can be used in this kind of game. Maybe this can help us to see which problems we have.
“I consider that these sorts of video games may help us to change in the proper means, however all the time deal with us, to develop as a group, to do issues higher and that is the purpose.”
This fixture is steeped in history for Tottenham with Metropolitano not only the venue where they suffered Champions League heartbreak, but the club’s solitary meeting with Atlético was the triumphant Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1963.
Fast forward to the present day and Spurs have reached their nadir of the 21st century, but Tudor will be boosted by the availability of captain Cristian Romero on Tuesday.
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Tudor additionally confirmed Richarlison would begin and believes he has began to make progress with fixing “outdated habits” in the squad.
“I noticed that extra the time has handed, the classes are all the time higher, there’s extra high quality in every part, particularly as a result of necessary gamers are coming again within the group,” Tudor pointed out.
“As I stated earlier than, a lot of outdated habits generally take extra time than you anticipated to vary.”
Spurs right-back Pedro Porro backed the interim head coach whilst sat alongside him.
Porro’s frustrated reaction to being substituted in Thursday’s 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace went viral after he punched a chair.
But Porro insisted: “I simply wish to make it clear it was not in regards to the supervisor. I’m a participant who provides all of it on the pitch, 200%, and we by no means like shedding. It is nearly that.
“Since I found out he was coming to the club, I knew he was going to be a manager that would help us a lot.
“All of the gamers know that we should be on the proper path with him.”
However, asked to clarify that the players do care amid this relegation battle, Porro said: “This is a tricky scenario however the necessary factor now that we’re right here is to deal with tomorrow’s sport.”
