UEFA Champions League 2018/2019: Previewing all the quarterfinal matches 

The UCL trophy is up for grabs

Tottenham vs Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur has a lot of quality to hurt City
Tottenham Hotspur has a lot of quality to hurt City

H2H record - Matches played (156)

Man City wins (61), Draws (35), Tottenham wins (60)

Players to watch - Man City (Sergio Aguero), Tottenham (Harry Kane)

The first UCL all-English clash since 2011 pits Manchester City against Tottenham and both clubs would slug it out over two legs for a spot in the last four.

Spurs and City are very much new entrants into the upper echelons of European club football, having only recently started to make a name for themselves as opposed to more traditional heavyweights like Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid among others.

However, their paths to the top could not have been more vastly different, as whereas City's climb has been backed by a stupendously wealthy owner who embarked on a spending spree to being in the world's best players and managers, Tottenham's has been more frugal, identifying unheralded cheap talented players and molding them into game changers.

Manchester City are unarguably the most dominant team in the Premier League at the moment, decimating all before them en route the PL triumph last season, but it would be pertinent to note that they have not quite translated their domestic form onto the continent.

This is only the third UCL quarterfinal appearances in their history, while they have made it past this stage just once.

Tottenham for their part are appearing in this stage for the second time having reached the last eight in their debut campaign back in the 2010/2011 season and have impressed up till this point significantly but come up against arguably their biggest test to this point.

Both teams also posted very impressive victories in the last round, with Tottenham posting a 4-0 aggregate victory over Borussia Dortmund, while City saw off Schalke 04 9-2 over both legs, with the second leg ending by the rather embarrassing scoreline of 6-0.

Manchester City have the biggest squad depth in Europe, possessing at least two top-class players in every position and as such it might be tempting to think that Tottenham cannot match their firepower.

However, it is important to note that for all of City's brilliance in the league, they have always struggled in the UCL while the fact that they have lost all four of their previous European fixtures against English opposition is sure to be sweet music to the ears of the Tottenham faithful.

The likes of Aguero, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane would be expected to see City through, but Spurs can count on the lethal services of Harry Kane upfront ably supported by a cast of Dele Alli, Heung-min Son and Christian Eriksen and though Guardiola might have proved himself to be the most tactically astute coach over the last decade, Mauricio Pochetino is no tactical slouch either.

Verdict - Manchester City to go through

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Edited by Vikshith R
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