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Spurs' record in Europe:-

U.E.F.A Champions League
 
 P  W   D   L   F - A
42 19   9  14  81 - 61

(Finalists 2019)
 
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
140  78  36  26  276-121 
 
(Winners 1972, 1984
 Finalists 1974)

Total
P    W   D   L   F - A
223 121 51  51  443-229

Champions League Group B

                   P  W  D  L  F-A  GD  Pts
1. Bayern Munich   5  5  0  0 21-4 +17  15
2. Spurs           5  3  1  1 17-11 +6  10 
3. Crvena zvezda   5  1  0  4  3-19 -16  3
4. Olympiacos      5  0  1  4  7-14 -7   1           

We're only here for the beer!

We always hoped that our qualification for the Round of 16 would be settled and so it is. When we booked our travel for this match, who was to know that absolutely nothing would be riding on the game because Bayern must finish top, and we must finish second. We wait for the draw next Monday 16th December, to discover our opponents in the knock-out stage.

Currently the other teams who are guaranteed to finish top of their groups even before the last game is played are PSG, Manchester City (who we cannot play before the quarter-final), Juventus and Barcelona. I'd like to go to PSG, as it is an easier journey, and I have yet to visit the Paris Stadium.

I am having to publish this preview before official team news, due to my travel plans. Jose Mourinho has already indicated that younger players such as Kyle Walker-Peters, Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp and 17-year-old Troy Parrott will be involved. I am sure we will need the experience of Gazzaniga in goal and that several other experienced players will be involved. Perhaps Christian Eriksen will be allowed the chance to show his skills as he is in the shop window after all - even if that might be the bargain basement because of his contract expiring next summer.

Bayern have the incentive of becoming only the seventh team to win all 6 of their group games, but the fact of the matter is that they have worries on the domestic front. On Saturday they lost their third Bundesliga game in five matches. This latest defeat was 2-1 away to League leaders Borussia Monchengladbach. Bayern are seven points behind the leaders and currently sit in seventh place. I am sure their next league game at home to Werder Bremen on Saturday is of more concern.

Robert Lewandowski has not scored in the last two games, but of course he has been banging them in all season at all levels. He also has a record to maintain (if allowed through selection) and is looking to score in all 6 of Bayern's group games. The Polish ace has scored 16 Bundesliga goals and 10 in the Champions League. He's scored 4 for Poland too. Mind you, Harry Kane has scored 15 club goals and 10 for his country, so he's not far behind the prolific Lewandowski.

Lewandowski scored two of the seven goals we conceded at Tottenham in October and former Arsenal man Gnabry stunned us with four goals. Gnabry has been hitting the net regularly since for club and country, scoring a hat-trick in Germany's last game against Northern Ireland.

It's a dead rubber game and as the old ad used to say "We're only here for the beer!" Jose Mourinho will ensure that those who represent us play with passion and pride, and the first objective must be not to suffer an embarrassing scoreline. Perhaps we will see a draw as we did when we played in the Audi Cup Final in this stadium in July. We won that game (and a cup!) on penalties!

Regarding dead rubber games, I have culled the following information from our recent European history:-

When we played FC Twente away in the 6th game of our first Champions League Group phase (December 7th, 2010), we did know we had qualified, but were level with Inter on 10 points. We drew 3-3, but Inter lost, so we topped the group. The following year we failed to get further than the Europa League phase.

We needed (and got) a result in our last group game of the Europa League in 2012 against Panathinaikos. When we played Anzhi on 12th December, 2013 we already knew we would top our group. In fact we won every one of our Europa League Group K matches.

Besiktas v Spurs in December 2014 was not a "dead rubber" game. Both teams had qualified, but we did not know in what order. Besiktas beat us 1-0 to win the group by one point. We also knew we had qualified from Europa League Group J in 2015 and we beat Monaco 4-1 to secure first place.

We failed to qualify from our Champions league group in 2016, finishing behind Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen. Spurs v Apoel in December 2017 was a "dead rubber" game as we knew we would finish ahead of Real Madrid because of our head to head superiority over the Champions League holders. Last year we needed and got a dramatic point at the Camp Nou to secure our passage to the Round of 16.

Match referee Gianluca Rocchi is one of the highest profile officials around at this time. This will be his fourth game in the middle with Spurs. The last occasion was our away draw against Olypiacos. Signor Rocchi was the VAR for our home game this season against Crvena zvezda.

· "Ten Years After" - Spurs Odyssey reviews the season in which we first qualified for the Champions League. On 12th December 2009 we lost 1-0 at home to Wolves!

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