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Spurs record in Europe:-

 
U.E.F.A Champions League
 
 P   W   D   L   F - A
12   5   3   4  25 -19
 
European Cup
P   W   D   L   F - A
8   4   1   3  21 - 13
 
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
 
European Cup Winners Cup
 
P   W   D   L   F - A
33  20  5   8  65 - 34
 
(Winners 1963)
 
UEFA Cup/Europa League
 P    W   D   L   F - A
114  67  29  18  236-91 
 
(Winners 1972, 1984
 Finalists 1974)
 
Total
P    W   D   L   F - A
167 96  38  33  345-157

Focus on the managers

Spurs travel to the extreme East of Europe for the fourth time this season, and for their ninth Europa League game in a quest which, in theory, could run to another 8 games after today's first leg game. That's two-thirds of the remainder of our Premier League season!

Spurs have travelled without several high profile players, such as Adebayor, Lloris, Walker, Kaboul and Lennon. Sandro, Lamela and Chirhces also remain absent through injury. Sandro played in an under-21s game earlier this week, but was taken off after being the victim of a lungeing tackle. Hopefully Sandro's long term comeback plans have not been affected.

Due to the ongoing violent protests in Ukraine's capital city of Kiev, there have been fears that our game might suffer, but Dnipropetrovsk is some 200 miles south of Kiev, and our game is due to go ahead. Good luck to the band of 100 Spurs fans who have made their way on another arduous journey. This fan is on a budget and stayed at home!

The focus will be on the two managers/ head coaches for different reasons. For Tim Sherwood, it will be his first senior European game as the Spurs head coach, whilst for Juande Ramos, the tie heralds a return to White Hart Lane for the first time in an official capacity since his dismissal in October 2008.

Ramos, of course is the last Spurs manager to win a trophy, with that magnificent Carling Cup win over Chelsea on February 24th 2008. This Europa League tie will take place either side of the sixth anniversary of that win. It was a great achievment, and Ramos was reknowned for being something of a master of Cup wins.

Ramos's time with Spurs went to pieces after that win, starting with a 4-1 defeat at Birmingham the following week; a UEFA Cup exit to a Gomes-inspired PSV, and only 14 points from our last 12 Premier League games. We finished in the bottom half of the table.

The infamous "two points from 8 games" and a miserable UEFA Cup defeat to Udinese led to the end of Ramos. However, within two months of leaving Spurs, Ramos became manager of Real Madrid, gaining 52 points from 18 consecutive matches to give the Galacticos a chance of pipping Barcelona. However, Ramos lost 6-2 to Barca towards the end of the season. They won the title race, and he lost another contract.

Ramos had just 47 days in charge of CSKA Moscow, but has spent the last 3 1/2 years in charge of Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Dnipro are fourth in their league at the moment, and have finished in that position in 8 of the last 10 seasons, managing one third place (2003-04), and finishing sixth in 2008-09. This will be the first time that Dnipro have survived in Europe until after the winter break. Dnipro finished second in Group E, behind Fiorentina.

Due to the winter break, Dnipro have not played a competitive game since December. I understand their form in recent friendlies has not been too great either.

Regarding Tim Sherwood, he is not exactly a rookie when it comes to facing European competition either. he played European football for Blackburn in the 90s, and for Spurs in the early part of the 1999-2000 season. As head of our Development squad, Sherwood has also overseen our young players in the NextGen mtches that were held in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, when we faced high profile and high quality teams such as PSV, Inter and Barcelona.

Obviously this is a different level, but I am sure a Sherwood side will give a good account of itself. This might not be a titanic tie, but this is a titanic place for your sports betting needs!

Ramos has already warned Spurs of the threat posed by his 24 year old Ukrainian International winger Yevhen Konoplyanka, who was courted by Liverpool in the January transfer window, and also rumoured to be of interest to Spurs. Presumably, that means that Spurs are already well-versed regarding the talents of this young man.

The Dnipro squad is predominantly Ukrainian, but like so many teams in Europe, it does include a Brazilian or two, and a sprinkling of players from around Europe.

A possible Spurs team has been suggested of :- Friedel; Naughton, Dawson, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Capoue; Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli; Soldado. There are reservations about the Dnipro pitch, and UEFA asked Spurs to use the host club's training ground rather than the stadium for their training session.

The home fans may offer a hostile reception for the Spurs team, but I expect our boys to at least get a draw, which would be a good result to bring back to White Hart Lane next week.

The referee for this game will be Antonio Mateu Lahoz, who is a high profile referee in the Spanish League, and has regularly been in charge of both Champions League and Europa League matches this season.

· On this day in 1999, George Graham's Spurs had their fifth 0-0 in 9 games. Tim Sherwood made his full league debut at Middlesbrough.

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