TOTTENHAM v AC MILAN: FUN FACTS

A night in which entry into the top eight teams in Europe is up for grabs. The stakes of Tottenham vs AC Milan, the return leg of the Champions League 2022/23, are high. For the first time in their history, the Rossoneri will take the field at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; we approach the match, which will kick-off at 21:00 CET on Wednesday 8 March, with some stats and facts:

SECOND LEG TRADITION
The second leg approaches after a 1-0 win at San Siro, decided by Brahim Díaz's goal. Although AC Milan have only won one of their 21 English away fixtures in European competitions (a 1-0 win over Manchester United in February 2005), they can build on a positive tradition: having won the first leg of a Champions League/Champions League knockout round match, AC Milan have qualified for the next round in 18 of 21 instances. Tottenham, on the other hand, have qualified in two of their last three European challenges where they have lost the first leg match: Ajax in the 2018/19 Champions League and Paços de Ferreira in the 2021/22 Conference League.

STREAKS AND MOMENTS
The two teams come from narrow league defeats (Wolverhampton and Fiorentina) and come into the European appointment with the desire to get back to winning ways. AC Milan will want to continue their streak of consecutive Champions League victories: three, the most in a single season since 2004/05, when they had five. To reach that figure, with a victory on London soil, would also mean winning both matches in a single knockout round of the competition for the first time since the derby double against Inter in the 2004/05 quarter-finals. On the other hand, Tottenham (who suffered elimination from the FA Cup in recent days) come from four defeats in their last six Champions League knockout home matches, including their two most recent games: Ajax in 2019 and Leipzig in 2020.

WHOEVER STARTS WELL
Brahim Díaz's goal in the first leg was the Rossoneri's quickest in a Champions League knockout game since Ronaldinho's in AC Milan vs Manchester United in 2010. Getting off to the best possible start at the Tottenham Stadium could be crucial, given the elimination of the away goals rule: five times in seven Champions League matches have Conte's side conceded the first goal of the match. On the two occasions when this has not happened, however, Tottenham have kept a clean sheet (2-0 against Marseille and 0-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt).

THE BATTLE OF THE STRIKERS
The battle of the strikers between Harry Kane and Olivier Giroud, a contest also admired during the last World Cup in Qatar, will be repeated that evening in London. The Rossoneri number 9 has been involved in six goals (4 goals and 2 assists) in his last six Champions League appearances, at least twice as many as any other team-mate. In the event of a goal against Tottenham, Giroud would become the second French player, after Thierry Henry, to score at least five goals in a single tournament with three different teams, having already managed it with Arsenal in 2015/16 and with Chelsea in 2020/21. Harry Kane, for his part, has scored just one goal this Champions League season, having scored 20 in his first 24 appearances in the tournament; the England striker has scored six goals in his last six games in the competition at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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