· Last season's home game v Fiorentina (1-1)
· Last season's away game v Fiorentina (Lost 2-0)
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats

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
134  77  34  23  269-112 
 
(Winners 1972, 1984
 Finalists 1974)
 
Total
P    W   D   L   F - A
187 106 45  38  374-178
 
        

There's a record to be broken here!

It goes without saying that this year's trip to Florence, and our Round of 32 Europa League tie with Fiorentina needs to be a great improvement on that of last year!

We played Fiorentina at the same stage but at home first. (Spurs 1 Fiorentina 1, 19.02.15). Roberto Soldado put us into the lead in only the sixth minute with a volley following Paulinho's corner. Spurs were turning the ball around quickly at throw-ins and goal kicks, but the Italian side were up for pace being inserted into the game.

Soldado conceded a free kick in his own half, and was booked. From the powerful cross/shot which followed, Lloris could only parry and Basanta scored with his follow-up. There was no change to the score, and Spurs had to travel to Florence in a disadvantageous position.

Spurs had played West Ham at home on the intervening Sunday lunchtime, and had a Capital One Cup Final to play on the Sunday after the away game against Fiorentina.(Fiorentina 2 Spurs 0, 26.02.15). The majority of possession (64%) did us no good, as we succumbed to goals by Gomez, and Salah. Salah is now playing his football at Roma, whilst Gomez is on loan with Besiktas, where he is scoring freely.

Fiorentina went on to the semi-final of last year's Europa League, beaten 3-0 away by Sevilla and 2-0 at home. They finished fifth in Serie A and won a path to the group stage of the Europa League, as did Spurs. La "Viola" finished second in Group I, three points behind Basel to whom they lost at home, and drew away. Fiorentina also lost at home to Lech Poznan.

One record Spurs would do well to end would be the fact that no English team has scored in the Fiorentina stadium. There have been five such games so far, four of which have been won by the home team.

Fiorentina have a new coach. He is the 45 year old Portuguese Paulo Sousa, who last coached Basel, so losing out to them in the Group stage would have hurt him somewhat. Sousa has managerial experience in English football with QPR, Swansea and Leicester. He has spent more than one season in management with only one club so far. That was the Hungarian club Videoton. Sousa didn't last long with either QPR or Leicester, but won league titles in his last two appointments at Maccabi Tel Aviv and Basel.

This season's goalscorers-in-chief for Fiorentina are Slovenian striker Josip Ilicic and the Croatian Nikola Kalinic, formerly of Blackburn. Kalinic has spent five seasons with Dnipro. Ilicic and Kalinic both have 10 serie A goals to their name.

Other Fiorentina players with experience in English football are defender Marcos Alonso, midfielder Borja Alero and striker Mauro Zarate, who has just joined from West Ham. Zarate came off the bench to play against us in our 4-1 home win over "The Hammers" in November.

Fiorentina are currently third in Serie A, 8 points behind leaders Juventus, and 7 behind Napoli. They beat Inter 2-1 on Sunday (at home) with goals by Borja and Babacar. They are unbeaten in their last five games. Having drawn two of those games, the home side will be very wary of Spurs' recent run of seven consecutive wins in league and cup games.

Having had a couple of mid-weeks clear of football since the New Year, the intensity now builds up for Spurs who are guaranteed two games a week for at least the next three weeks, and possibly beyond if we progress to the Round of 16. I suspect Pochettino will field a strong defence tomorrow night. The full backs will be switched, of course, but in front of the back four players such as Bentaleb, Mason, Lamela and Chadli are likely to get a game.

Mauricio Pochettino has announced that Hugo Lloris suffered a knock as a result of his last ditch save at Man City on Sunday, and that he will miss tomorrow's game. Hugo may also be out for Sunday's Cup game. Josh Onomah and Cameron Carter-vickers have travelled with the squad. In the circumstances, a draw would be a good result and of course, an away goal would be a bonus! I'm going for the draw - perhaps 1-1.

31 year old referee Felix Zwayer and his officials are from Germany. We've not encountered this referee before, but he does have experience of both Europa and Champions League football. The appointed uEFA referee observer is Hugh Dallas, who was a highly respected referee in Scotland.

I am travelling to Florence, which means the website report will not be uploaded before Friday night. I shall hopefully be able to post you the link to the usual survey tomorrow night.

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