Tottenham begins European campaign with trip to Bulgaria
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Hotspur start what the club hopes is a long European campaign with a trip to Bulgaria to face PFC Locomotiv Plovdiv 1926 in the second round of Europa League qualification.
At this point, how Tottenham Hotspur ended up in the second round has been well documented.
Thanks to the sixth-place league finish and Arsenal’s FA Cup triumph, Spurs were relegated to qualifying for the full-on competition. If Tottenham cannot defeat Locomotiv Plovdiv on Thursday in Bulgaria, their European journey will be over before it even truly began.
So, who is Locomotiv Plovdiv, how did they get here and what can Spurs expect?
Locomotiv Plovdiv’s journey and form
Just as league finish placed Spurs in a qualifying round, as the second place team in the Bulgarian A League last season, Locomotiv Plovdiv landed in the first round qualifying of this term’s Europa League.
In the first round, Locomotiv Plovdiv beat FK Iskra Danilovgrad of Montenegro 0-1 at Danilovgrad Stadium. Plovdiv outshot Iskra 13 to 7 in the match, but only managed one shot on target, the winning penalty struck by Dimitar Iliev, the club captain.
Locomotiv have actually already played seven official matches this season including the one in Europa League qualifying. Beyond that match, Plovdiv have played five league matches and the Bulgarian Super Cup. Locomotiv beat defending league champions Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0 to win the silverware to start the season. Since then, Plovdiv have won three and lost two in league, with one of those losses being to league leaders Ludogorets.
Overall, with five wins against two defeats in their first seven matches, Locomotiv have a lot more fitness and confidence than Tottenham Hotspur coming into this match. Having outscored opponents by 26 goals last season en route to 49 goals in only 26 matches, Locomotiv can put the ball in the net. Add in the fact that Locomotiv is the home side and have already been talking about knocking Spurs out of the competition and Tottenham will have their hands full.
Tottenham needs to win
Tottenham Hotspur had a stinker on the first weekend of the Premier League season in the opening 0-1 loss to Everton. The Premier League season is long and you cannot let one game define your season. However, in the Europa League, playing a single-match qualifier, and a string of qualifiers just to get to the group stage, the stakes for this match are enormous for the club.
While the payout of near a quarter million Euros is not the big draw, it is the possibility to advance. Looking at last year’s financial figures for the Europa League, if a team did well in their group, won their group and advanced to win the league that club could collect upwards of 20 million Euros from the competition. Last I checked, that would cover the wages of the certain player the club has been linked to of late.
Whether or not that 20 million would go into player expenses is irrelevant, what is relevant is the club’s need for that kind of prize money given the loss in gate receipts that will be continuing with the ongoing pandemic. To achieve the dreams of the club and fans alike, only a win and then a couple more to officially qualify for Europa League, will suffice.