Milan v Tottenham: Champions League last-16 first leg – live | Champions League

“Playing in the Champions League gives a lot of energy, it gives a lot of motivation and a great desire to play this match,” said the Milan manager. “It’s a very important round, it’s a round that will be decided over two games, but we know that starting the first one well would be a big step forward.”

On his team’s recent run of poor form: “It is inevitable that we have suffered a lot from the negative results, the victory against Torino has lifted our morale. Beyond the victory against Torino when the Champions League arrives, it’s the Champions League. It doesn’t matter how you get there, who gets there feeling better, who gets there worse.

“If we stay at these levels it means that we are strong and Tottenham are strong, so we have to try to do better starting tomorrow night. First of all I hope to change the results compared to previous experiences with English teams. We will find intensity, rhythm, physicality, therefore many duels, including physical ones.”

“If you are aiming for something important you need to have stability,” said the Tottenham Hotspur in his pre-match press conference. “You can’t have these up-and-downs. I’m focusing on this. It’s not as easy here to be focused on every game. I want to change this.

“We lack consistency this season. I always talk about it with my players. It’s difficult to remain focused on every game. Playing under pressure all the time is good for some players and not for others. We are working on it. We want to make our players more resilient, but there are factors beyond our control like injuries to important players.”

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Goalkeeper Mike Maignan, full-back Alessandro Florenzi, central defender Fikayo Tomori and midfielder Ismail Bennacer make up the Italian side’s current contingent of the lame and halt but Tomori and Bennacer could feature this evening.

Anyone hoping to see the evergreen Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing for Milan will be disappointed, as the Swedish striker was not included in the Champions League squad the club submitted to Uefa. Chelsea loanee Tiémoué Bakayoko (remember him?) was also left out of their 25.

Tottenham’s preparations for this game suffered a weekend hammer-blow when Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a season-ending ACL injury. The Uruguayan midfielder has been one of Tottenham’s best performers this season and his absence will be keenly felt tonight, not least because his most likely replacements Yves Bissouma and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg are also unavailable.

Bissouma is currently sidelined with a foot injury, while Hojbjerg must sit this one out on the Naughty Step following an accumulation of yellow cards. Eric Dier, Pape Sarr or Oliver Skipp could deputise. Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and winger Ryan Sessegnon are also out with injuries.

Old Big Cup is back! And tonight in the San Siro, AC Milan host Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of what promises to be a fascinating encounter. In decent form but travelling to Italy on the back of a worryingly emphatic defeat at the hands of Leicester City, Antonio Conte’s men will be hosted by an AC Milan team that beat Torino on Friday, their first win in eight games in all competitions. It is a run that included three consecutive league defeats, as well as an exit from the Coppa Italia and defeat in the Italian Super Cup.

Stefano Pioli’s side currently sit fifth in the Serie A table, a scarcely credible 18 points behind runaway leaders Napoli. Tottenham occupy the same position in the Premier League and sit 12 points their old friends Arsenal in first. Kick-off at the San Siro is at 8pm (GMT) but we’ll have plenty of team news and build-up in the meantime.