Notebook – Spurs vs Marseille

After two seasons away, we make our return to the UEFA Champions League tonight as we welcome Olympique de Marseille to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (8pm kick-off).

Ahead of the match, here are all the game’s key points of note…

1 - We’re back

Tonight, we’ll take on our first Champions League match in over 900 days. Having missed out on qualification for European football’s elite club competition for two seasons since our round of 16 exit to RB Leipzig in March, 2020, we are now back at Europe’s top table and have high ambitions this season ahead.

2 - An historic fixture

Tonight’s meeting with Marseille will be an historic one. In our history, we have never faced the French side in a competitive fixture. Although, we have previously met with them in a friendly as back in 1947 we travelled to the south of France after the conclusion of the 1946/47 season to take on the Olympiens - we fell to a 2-1 defeat.

3 - Spurs vs French sides

This will not be our first competitive meeting with a French side though. Previously, we have faced four French sides (AS Monaco, Lyon, Nantes, Stade Rennais) on 11 different occasions, coming away with four wins, three draws and four defeats. In the Champions League, the only Ligue 1 side we have met is AS Monaco, as we were drawn with them in the 2016/17 group stage – we lost each of our meetings 2-1.

4 - Marseille vs English sides

Our visitors, meanwhile, have quite the history against English sides having previously faced seven different teams from the Premier League in European competition. Since first facing Manchester United in the group stages of the Champions League in 1999, they have taken on Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool. In their 24 meetings in total with English sides to date, they have lost 50 per cent of those matches (12), winning seven and drawing five.

They have won just one of their last 13 matches against English sides in the Champions League (D2 L10) and have failed to win each of their last eight such games. They last played an English side in the 2020/21 group stages of the Champions League as they were drawn into Group C with Manchester City – they lost each of their meetings 3-0.

5 - Marseille in the Champions League

While this is a competition they have won in the past (1993), Marseille have struggled in the Champions League over the last few years. Of their last 15 outings in this competition, the French side have lost 14 times, winning the other. In that run, they also failed to score in nine of those matches.

6 - Matchday One struggles

However, while Marseille may have struggled in the competition as of late, both sides have found difficulty when it comes to the opening game of a group stage. For starters, when we have opened our previous Champions League campaigns, we have won just one of our Matchday One matches – a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in 2017/18. And our visitors have a similar record in such games, having won just two of their eight Matchday One games to date.

7 - Home comforts

We are enjoying quite the run at home in European competitions. Of our last nine matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in UEFA competitions, we have won each of them with an aggregate score of 33-5. We last enjoyed a better such run between September, 1972, and April, 1974, as we won 10 on the spin.

Also, of our last 18 home games in the Champions League, we have not drawn single match. We last tied a game back in March, 2011, as we drew 0-0 with Milan in the round of 16.

8 - Kane in the Champions League

Harry Kane has quite the record in the UEFA Champions League. In our number 10’s first 24 appearances in the competition, he has been involved in 23 goals (20 scored, three assisted) – only Erling Haaland (64), Mario Gomez (102) and Lionel Messi (103.7) have a better minutes-per-goal ratio than Kane (104.4).

9 - Marseille’s travelling difficulties

While we are enjoying a string run at home, Marseille are struggling on the road. Despite having won three of their last four away games in all European competitions, they have lost each of their last eight away games in the Champions League – a run that stretches back to December, 2011 and a 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund. They have also failed to score in each of their last four away games in the competition – their longest such run in the comeptition's history.

10 - Conte and Tudor

Antonio Conte and visiting manager Igor Tudor go way back. First meeting as players back in 1998, Antonio and Tudor became good friends during their days as team-mates at Juventus, playing together for the next six years. And tonight’s game won’t be the first time they have faced each other on the touchline either as, back in September, 2019, Antonio led his Internazionale side to a 1-0 win over Tudor’s Udinese in Serie A.