On Friday, Tottenham Hotspur were drawn in a very tricky Europa League group, with Belgian’s RSC Anderlecht France’s AS Monaco and Azerbaijan’s Qarabag.
Anderlecht and Monaco were both in the Champions League last year, with Qarabag competing in the Europa League for a second consecutive year. So, there’s plenty of European experience in there – but what do we expect exactly from our three opponents?
RSC Anderlecht
The Belgians finished third last season in an unpredictable Belgian Pro League behind champions Gent and Club Brugge, who were dismantled by Manchester United in a Champions League qualifier.
However, they have lost arguably their best player – the highly controversial Aleksandar Mitrovic, who moved to Newcastle United after scoring 20 league goals last season.
There are still plenty of players of note at the Stade Constant Vanden Stock; Steven Defour is maybe the biggest name in the squad after joining the club from FC Porto, a move which upset former employers and Anderlecht’s fierce rivals, Standard Liege.
Other notable players include: Anthony van den Borre (Who famously left Chris Kamara bemused when he was sent off for Portsmouth), 21-year-old Dennis Praet and Argentine striker Matias Suarez.
Anderlecht were in Arsenal’s Champions League group last season, and completed a famous comeback at the Emirates, coming from 3-0 down to draw 3-3.
They finished third in the group behind Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund – and were then knocked out of the Europa League at the Round of 32 stage by Dynamo Moscow.
AS Monaco
There is little doubt that Monaco were the team everyone wanted to avoid from pot three, but Spurs have drawn the French side, who last year reached the quarter finals of the Champions League, knocking Arsenal out en route.
In recent years, Monaco have taken a step back from spending millions on players such as Falcao and have gone down a different route. Leonardo Jardim’s side have begun buying talented youngsters, building them up and selling them on for profit.
Monaco have made an incredible €103m on selling players this summer alone. €100m of that came from just four players. Geoffrey Kondogbia joined Inter Milan for €30m, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco moved to Atletico Madrid for €20m, with Aymen Abdennour and Layvin Kurzawa both leaving for €25m, to Valencia and PSG respectively.
To replace those four – all of whom were crucial members of the squad – they have brought in Thomas Lemar (19) from Caen for €4m, Fares Bahlouli (20) for €3m from Lyon, Guido Carrillo (24) from Estuidiantes for €8.8m, Adama Traore (20) from Lille for €14m, Boschilia (19) from Sao Paulo for €9m and finally, Rony Lopes (19) from Manchester City for €10m.
Youngster Corentin Jean also arrived for €4m from Troyes, but was loaned straight back, whilst Allan Saint-Maximin arrived for €5m from Saint-Etienne but was loaned to Hannover 96.
On top of that, they have brought in four players on loan – Stephan El Shaaraway (22) from AC Milan, Fabio Coentrao from Real Madrid, Mario Pasalic (20) from Chelsea and Helder Costa from Benfica.
So there are more than a few exciting players to watch out for when Spurs play against Monaco in the group stages of this year’s competition – however, the side who finished third in Ligue 1 last season are maybe most noted for their defending. They conceded only 26 times in the top flight last campaign, four less than any other side and 10 less than champions PSG.
Spurs will have to be at their creative best if they want to beat Monaco, and finish ahead of them in the group.
Qarabag
The most obscure of the three teams is Qarabag, champions of Azerbaijan.
They are known for being very strong defensively – and their record in last season’s Europa League highlights exactly why.
In a group with Inter Milan, Saint-Etienne and eventual beaten finalists Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, the Azerbaijani’s conceded only five goals. Although this was not enough to see them through to the Round of 32, as they were cruelly denied that when a last minute winner at the San Siro, which would have seen them through, was wrongly ruled-out.
In Europe this year, Qarabag knocked Montenegro’s Rudar out of the Champions League before falling 1-0 on aggregate to Celtic. They thrashed Young Boys of Switzerland 4-0 in the Europa League play-off.
The main worry for Spurs and their fans surrounding Qarabag is the distance travelled for the away game – a whopping 5,750 mile round trip. Just before a game against Chelsea, by the way.
Another thing to note, which many may be unaware of, is the state of Qarabag’s pitch. The Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, which also hosts Azerbaijan’s home matches, was in such poor condition for the visit of Celtic that there was talk of the game being postponed.
Although this is not strictly Qarabag’s home as they play in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, miles away from their home of Karabakh due to the Nagorno-Karabakh War of 1993.
