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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
126  73  32  21  256-103 
 
(Winners 1972, 1984
 Finalists 1974)
 
Total
P    W   D   L   F - A
179 102 41  36  361-169

Spurs need to a job on the Italians!

After a two month break, European Football is back, and for Spurs, tomorrow's home match against Fiorentina heralds a start of another hectic and tough spell of games.

We now have six games in the next 18 days, which could define our season. Premier League points are crucial, as always; a Capital One Cup win against Chelsea would be wonderful, and progress against one of Serie A's top sides will be difficult, but would be another step along the long road towards the dream of Champions League qualification. Such is the prize for winning this year's Europa League.

Spurs have already played 8 games on the Europa League path, but that is less than half-way in that quest for glory. Whilst Europa League teams are hopefully playing their way through two rounds, the elite Champions League takes their time over their "Round of 16". Chelsea played PSG last night, but don't play their return match until March 11th, when Spurs will hopefully be pondering the next round of the Europa League.

Spurs have never played Fiorentina in a competitive game before, but we have played three times in friendly matches. In August 1997, we lost 2-0 at home in the David Howells testimonial, in which Les Ferdinand and David Ginola made home debuts. Andrei Kanchelskis, once of Manchester United and Everton, scored one of the visitors' goals in front of a moderate crowd of 14,605.

In August 2001, Fiorentina came to Tottenham for the prestigious Bill Nicholson Testimonial (a second such occasion). The great man was present to see his beloved Spurs win 3-0. Les Ferdinand played again, and scored. Gus Poyet and Steffen Iversen were also on the mark.

9 years later (almost to the day), the Italian team provided the opposition for a pre-season friendly, which we won 3-2. Fiorentina were missing their star striker Jovetic, who is now on Manchester City's books, and also the controversial figure of Adrian Mutu, once of Chelsea.

Until recently, Fiorentina had another Chelsea player on their staff. This was Marko Marin, who played against us for Werder Bremen in the Champions League in November 2010. Marin was seen as a rising star, and was snapped up by Chelsea (for a good fee, of course), but is currently on his third loan at Anderlecht, having played for Seville before Fiorentina. Marin scored goals in Fiorentina's last two Europa League games.

Fiorentina won their Europa League Group, with 13 points, and are currently fourth in Serie A. Juventus are well clear at the top, with Roma in second place. Fiorentina recently beat a weakened Roma team 2-0 away in the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia. Both goals were scored by German International Mario Gomez, who scored 5 goals in three games, four of which came in the Cup. The other goal was in a 1-1 Serie A draw against Roma. Gomez has only made 13 league starts, in which he has scored two goals, so perhaps he will not be their danger man tomorrow.

Top league scorer, with seven goals in 12 starts, is Senegal's Khouma Babacar, and he got two in Saturday's 3-1 win against Sassuolo. Another Chelsea loanee, Mohamed Salah, scored the other goal. Just over three weeks ago, Salah was a member of the Chelsea team which lost 4-2 at home to this year's FA Cup darlings, Bradford.

There are a couple of other familiar faces in the Fiorentina squad. Manchester City's Micah Richards is there on loan, and one of his team mates is central defender Stefan Savic, who left City for the Italian club over two years ago.

Former Spurs reserve player Mounir El Hamdaoui is on Fiorentina's books, but has only played 48 minutes in three recent substitute appearances. El Hamdaoui's most rewarding period came in Holland, where he scored 54 league goals in three seasons at AZ and Ajax.

Fiorentina are unbeaten in their last 8 games, 6 of which have been wins. They will provide formidable opposition. Spurs' task tomorrow must surely be to try to gain at least a two goal lead to take to Florence. With the West Ham game to come on Sunday, team selection might be tricky, but we can expect a strong line-up.

Who can unlock thee mind of "The Poch"? Perhaps that's a good thing, from the point of view of opposition planning, but whoever plays, we know the current Spurs style. Perhaps we'll see our strongest side tomorrow, with possible adjustments for Sunday's game against West Ham? That desirable two goal lead would allow for one or two key players to be rested next week, before the Capital One Cup Final. We'll just have to wait and see!

Tomorrow's match referee will be Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain. We last saw Senor Carballo when we drew 3-3 in the Champions League away to FC Twente in December 2010. The referee got a low mark of 3.4, no doubt affected by a harsh penalty decision against Assou-Ekotto, and one or two dodgy free kick decisions. Senor Carballo is clearly regarded as a senior referee, having been in charge of several Champions League, and World Cup games over the last year.

Did you know? - Talking of FC Twente (see above paragraph), Nacer Chadli scored against us in both games we played against FC Twente in the 2010-11 Champions League Group phase?

· 10 years ago on February 20th, Spurs drew at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Fifth Round.

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