Hoffenheim v Tottenham Hotspur: Europa League – Live | Europa League

On January 24, 2025By Littum

Key events

Glenn Hoddle selects Adam Hlozek as the Hoffenheim player to see, partly because “he has a left foot and a right foot”. And probably also because he is the club’s joint top scorer this season, has looked like a star in the making for several years and is still only 22.

I know what you’re thinking: is Morten Krogh, who judges this match, related to Morten Krogh, who reached the quarterfinals in epee at the 1972 Olympics and won five national fencing championships in his native Norway? And perhaps also to Trine Krogh, who competed in the pool at the same Olympics, in the 200m and 400m medley? And by extension to her uncle, Lars Krogh, who won 15 Norwegian championship titles in freestyle swimming and 14 in water polo before becoming chairman of the Norwegian Swimming Association?

And the answer is probably not. He’s not even Norwegian.

The teams!

Team news is in, and here are the starting lineups:

Hoffenheim: Baumann, Kaderabek, Akpoguma, N’Soki, Jurasek, Stach, Becker, Hlozek, Bischof, Kramaric, Moerstedt. Subs: Luca Philipp, Hranac, Gendrey, Micheler, Kalambayi, Chaves, Mokwa, Behrens, Erlein, Tim Philipp, Djuric.
Tottenham Hotspur: Austin, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Gray, Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son. Subs: Forster, Whiteman, Lankshear, Moore, Ajayi, Olusesi, Hardy, Cassanova.
Judge: Morten Krogh (Denmark).

Hello world!

At this moment, when they are destroyed by self-confidence and reeking of the foul funk of failure, the fortunes of football have given Spurs the precious gift of encouraging games. Of course, they played the first of those, against an Everton side that had scored a goal in their previous six league games, on Sunday and managed to make their opponents look like 1970 Brazil, conceding three and losing, but they have a chance to make up for it (sort of) tonight, and another against Leicester this weekend. Their season could still be good (or at least better).

Hoffenheim, who are 15th in the Bundesliga, three points above Heidenheim in 16th and the threat of a relegation play-off, have lost six and won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions, the solitary victory against Holstein Kiel in 17th place. on Saturday. “I play football because I want to win, and when you don’t win for so long, it really gets you down,” defender Kevin Akpoguma said. “In the dressing room after the match, you could feel that a weight had been lifted. After a win, everything is just nicer. A win always gives you energy, it has also been noticeable in the last few days. But we can’t relax now, we have to keep at it. It is important that we all develop a hunger for it so that we have this feeling much more often.”

Hoffenheim’s players are experiencing the unfamiliar feeling of instant gratification after scoring their second goal in a 3-1 win against Holstein Kiel. Photo: Axel Heimken/AP

Of their own last 10 matches, Spurs have won three and lost just five. In terms of form, this is no contest. And yet. One problem is that Spurs only have 13 first-team players to choose from, with Pape Sarr added to the injury list after the Everton game. It makes Ange Postecoglou’s job easier because the team more or less picks itself, and also harder because it’s more likely to be rubbish and there’s less he can do about it if it is.

“The reality is we don’t have many options,” growled the Australian. “We don’t have any other options, that’s the basic premise of it. We have probably 13 first-team players who have left. We don’t have many options, apart from throwing unproven youngsters in there, but I don’t want to do that to them. You have really need a strong squad and keep them healthy to be able to play in Europe if you do well in the cup competitions like we have because it’s not manageable when you’ve got three games a week in the time we have.”

So here we are. Two desperate teams. A game. Tottenham, in ninth place and outside the automatic progression places only on goal difference, will move into the top eight if they win and start feeling decent for a while. 27th-placed Hoffenheim surely need to win at least one and not lose either of their last two Europa League games if they are to have any hope of even a playoff spot. It is, in its slightly miserable way, a massive, potentially season-shaping game. Welcome!