On August 22 at 20:00 Dinamo Tbilisi will play first leg of UEFA Europe League play-off against Tottenham Hotspur. Live broadcasting of the match will be ensured by Channel 1 of the Public Broadcaster and our official web-page.
Our rival
Tottenham Hotspur often called as Spurs was established in London in 1882. The team plays home matches at White Hart Lane which is for 36 310 spectators. The main symbols of the club are in white and violet. Spurs won the first trophy in 1901. The team played against Sheffield United FC in the final match of English Football Association Cup. Tottenham Hotspur finished the first leg in draw-2:2 and won the second leg-3:1. After that Tottenham Hotspur won FA Cup for 7 times, in 1991 for the last time. The club won English League Cup for 4 times and English Super Cup for 7 times. Spurs won the first trophy on European tournaments in 1963 on UEFA Cup Winners Cup and in 1972 and 1984 on UEFA Cup. Our rival won Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1971.
Coach and Tottenham Hotspur
Successful Portuguese specialist Andre Villas-Boas became manager of Tottenham Hotspur in July 2012. While working in FC Porto in 2010/2011 season he won all the tournaments his team participated in. In 2012/2013 his team Tottenham Hotspur took the fifth place and stayed behind Arsenal FC with only 1 point. Arsenal FC played at UEFA Champions League play-off at that time. The best bombardier of the team Gareth Bale took the third place among bombardiers of Premiere League. Tottenham Hotspur played home match against FC Basel last year at UEFA Europe League ¼ final and ended the match in darw-2:2. They left the tournament after penalty shots.
Before Dinamo…
Our rival played 8 preparation matches in the new season. Spurs won 2 matches (South China 0:6 Tottenham Hotspur, Cambridge City 0:5 Tottenham Hotspur), 3 matches ended in draw (Swindon Town FC 1:1 Tottenham Hotspur, Colchester United FC 0:0 Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur 1:1 Espanyol) and lost 3 matches (Tottenham Hotspur 1:3 Sunderland AFC, Milton Keynes Dons FC 1:0 Tottenham Hotspur, AS Monaco FC 5:2 Tottenham Hotspur). Tottenham Hotspur played the first official match in the season against Crystal Palace. Spurs won the first round match of Premier League with minimal score 1:0. The goal was scored by new footballer of Tottenham Hotspur Roberto Soldado with penalty shot.
Before 2013/2014 season Tottenham Hotspur added important players. Danny Rose who was on loan in Sunderland during the last season returned in Spurs. Ezekiel Fryers playing in Belgian Standard Liege during the last season will play in Spurs. Trumpeter of FIFA Confederation Cup 2013, player of Brazil national team Paulinho became member of Tottenham Hotspur. The club bought midfielder Etienne Capoue from French Toulouse. Nacer Chadli will also play in Tottenham Hotspur who played in Dutch Twente. Spurs bought forward Roberto Soldado from Valencia.
Dinamo Tbilisi VS Tottenham Hotspur
The ways of Dinamo and Tottenham Hotspur were crossed on November 15, 1960 for the first time. Our team was defeated in the friendly match against Spurs with the score 2:5. Tengiz Melashvili and Vladimer Barkaia scored goals.
After 13 years Dinamo played against Tottenham Hotspur on UEFA Cup third qualifying round in 1973-74 season. The first leg took place on November 28, 1973 and it ended in draw-1:1. Kakhi Asatiani scored in this match. On December 12 Dinamo Tbilisi was defeated in the second leg in London with the score 1:5. Zorbeg Ebralidze from Dinamo scored the only goal.
Disqualified footballers
Levan Khmaladze will miss the match tomorrow because of disqualification. After he got yellow card in Dinamo VS Steaua match in Bucharest the number of his yellow cards increased to 3.
Dinamo Tbilisi VS Tottenham Hotspur-Referee
First leg of UEFA Europe League play-off match between Dinamo Tbilisi and Tottenham Hotspur at Dinamo Arena will be judged by Pol Van Boekel. His assistant will be D. Goossens and B. Van Dongen. P. Janssen will be the fourth official.
Possible squad of Tottenham Hotspur
We suppose that Tottenham Hotspur FC will play with the following squad tomorrow:
Friedel-Kaboul, Dawson, Walker, Naughton-Paulinho, Dembele, Capoue, Townsend-Soldado, Chadli