Tottenham Hotspur v Olympiakos: Champions League – live! | Football

Not long now: The teams line up in the tunnel and are led out by skippers Harry Kane and Omar Elabdellaoul respectively. It is a mild and dry night in north London, where a phalanx of photographers has congregated in front of the home dug-out to get pictures of Tottenham’s manager as he takes his seat init for the first time.

Elsewhere on BT Sport: Peter Crouch is a pundit on the studio panel, but barely able to speak as he is really, really hoarse. It is very funny. I suspect some runner will be given the task of funnelling honey and lemon down his throat for the first half, as he’s seriously struggling.

Jose Mourinho speaks: “I expect an amazing reception for the team, which is the only thing that matters tonight,” he says to BT Sport’s Des Kelly, upon being asked what kind of welcome he is expecting on his home debut. “The team, the performance and the result.”

On his team selection: “We thought that we should give that little bit of stability to the team,” he says. “We believe that two days of recovery when you win is enough for you to be ready to play.

On the inclusion of Danny Rose: “Rose is a different player to Davies, but he has been training with us from the first minute we came and knows his role.”

An email: “Not sure if anyone’s aware of this early 70s psych-folk classic by the Watersons,” writes Matt Snow, introducing Danny Rose.

Tottenham v Olympiakos line-ups

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Gazzaniga, Aurier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose, Dier, Winks, Lucas, Alli, Son, Kane.

Subs: Austin, Vertonghen, Sessegnon, Sissoko, Ndombele, Eriksen, Lo Celso.

Olympiakos (4-3-3): Sa, Elabdellaoui, Semedo, Meriah, Tsimikas, Camara, Guilherme, Bouchalakis, Podence, El Arabi, Masouras.

Subs: Allain, Benzia, Guerrero, Valbuena, Papadopoulos, Torosidis, Randjelovic.

Just the one change for Tottenham: Danny Rose comes in for the injured Ben Davies at left-back, Otherwise Jose Mourinho has picked the same team that started against West Ham on Saturday. There had been talk that Tanguy Ndombele might come in to midfield in place of Harry Winks, but the England international keeps his place.

Tonight’s referee

Bulgarian match official Georgi Kabakov is on coin-toss duty tonight. From Plovdiv, he was also in charge of Jose Mourinho’s most recent Champions League game, the aforementioned Manchester United defeat at the hands of Valencia.

Fun fact: Jose Mourinho will be the fifth different manager that Olympiakos has gone up against in as many games in this season’s Champions League matches.

Changes in personnel at Bayern Munich and Tottenham mean Martins has already stood in the adjacent technical area to Mauricio Pochettino, Vladan Milojevic, Niko Kovac and Hansi Flick. Tonight, he gets to watch Jose gesticulating at close quarters.

Jose Mourinho speaks

“I love the competition as much as everyone in football.,” said Tottenham’s new manager, before going on to demonstrate some of his new found humility. “Not everyone has the privilege to be a Champions League winner but I have done it twice. I would love to win it for a third time but this is not the moment to speak about it – this is the moment to qualify.”

Asked about his team’s chances of winning the tournament, he was typically bullish. “With these boys, I will never be afraid of any Champions League match,” he said. “We need to qualify, that’s the focus. Only when my teams arrive in the quarter-finals, I start thinking we can win it. At this moment, we are far from it and have to qualify. Give me time to work, put my ideas to these boys and I’ll go to any stadium to play against any big opponents in Europe or England and we won’t be afraid of anyone.”

Pedro Martins speaks

“We are here against a very good team but we have ambitions,” said the Olympiakos manager, ahead of a game his team must win if they are to keep their faint hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages alive. “We have done it before. If four months ago someone had said to us we’d be in the Champions League group stage and top of the Greek league, we’d be happy.”

Early team news

Ben Davies will be absent for Tottenham tonight after missing training yesterday with an ankle injury and could be replaced by Danny Rose. Erik Lamela remains sidelined with a thigh injury, while Jan Vertonghen is back in training but not expected to start.

Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld should start in the heart of the defence, while Tanguy Ndombele is also back in training after recovering from injury and could start in midfield at the expense of Harry Winks or Eric Dier.

For Olympiakos, midfielder Konstantinos Fortounis remains sidelined with an ACL injury he suffered back in July, while central defender Pape Abou Cisse is also a major doubt.

Under new management, Spurs go into tonight’s match against their Greek visitors knowing a win will guarantee their advancement to the knockout stages of the Champions League. A draw will be enough too, but only if Red Star fail to beat Bayern Munich in Belgrade.

One game into his reign at Tottenham, Jose Mourinho’s last involvement in the Champions League was as manager of a Manchester United side that lost 2-1 against Valencia last December. While United had already qualified for the knockout stages before kick-off in that particular defeat, he will certainly be hoping for a better performance from his new team on his first appearance in the home dug-out at White Hart Lane tonight.

Kick-off is at 8pm, but stay tuned for team news and build-up in the meantime.