Tottenham Hotspur confirmed their spot in the Champions League Round of 16 thanks to their final group stage win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany a couple weeks ago. That win cemented their place in the top 8 spots of the group table, meaning they not only advance but earned a bye past the two-legged playoff round.
This also gives Tottenham the opportunity to re-jigger their squad, although they are restricted by UEFA rules which state they can only make three changes to the squad with which they started the competition. Today, Spurs released their Champions League List A squad in a release on their website.
Tottenham Hotspur Champions League R16 squad — List A
The additions to the squad are Conor Gallagher, whom Spurs purchased from Atletico Madrid in January, Radu Dragusin, who has now recovered from an ACL injury last season, and Mathys Tel, who is brought back into the side. Omitted were Ben Davies and Rodrigo Bentancur, who are both injured, and Brennan Johnson, whom Spurs sold to Crystal Palace last month. Also omitted were Dejan Kulusevsi and Yves Bissouma.
We can probably glean a little bit of info by reading between the lines of who made the cut and who didn’t. I’m personally happy to see Tel make the squad again, especially since Richarlison will be out for a few weeks; there’s a decent chance he’ll get some CL minutes against whoever their R16 opponent is. Mohammed Kudus and Kevin Danso also retain their spots; perhaps there’s hope that their injuries aren’t as bad as feared? On the flip side, leaving Deki, Davies, and Bentancur out suggests that all of them are longer-term injuries and that we either won’t be seeing them play for a while, and/or it was deemed their recovery is better served by playing league minutes. Leaving Bissouma out entirely is a bit head scratching, as it leaves Spurs pretty thin in central midfield. But whatever.
Less clear is whether new signing Souza is eligible for List B or not; I haven’t gotten a firm answer on that yet, nor have I seen the List B squad.
What do you think about this squad? I’d ask you to put your replies in the comments, but you’re already doing that since you haven’t read this article.