Anderlecht v Tottenham background
Sunday, October 4, 2015
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The two-legged 1984 UEFA Cup final will be recalled as Anderlecht and undefeated Tottenham Hotspur meet in UEFA Europa League Group J on matchday three.
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RSC Anderlecht will stage a rerun of the 1984 UEFA Cup final when they face Tottenham Hotspur FC in Group J.
Previous meetings
• The sides first met in that final, Keith Burkinshaw's Spurs beating Paul Van Himst's Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties at White Hart Lane after a pair of 1-1 draws.
• The sides for the Brussels leg of that final on 9 May 1984 were:
Anderlecht: Munaron, De Greef, Grün, Olsen, De Groote, Hofkens, Vandereycken, Scifo, Brylle, Vandenbergh (Arnesen 82), Czerniatynski (Vercauteren 64).
Tottenham: Parks, Thomas, Hughton, Roberts, Miller, Perryman, Hazard, Archibald, Falco, Stevens (Mabbutt 81), Galvin.
• More recently, the teams drew 1-1 for a third time in a 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage fixture in Brussels. Ariël Jacobs was in charge of Anderlecht while Juande Ramos was Spurs boss.
• The lineups for that game on 6 December 2007 were:
Anderlecht: Zítka, Wasilewski, Juhász, Van Damme, Deschacht, Hassan, Biglia, Polák, Goor, Mpenza (Baseggio 72), Frutos (Théréau 55).
Tottenham: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Zokora, Young-Pyo (Stalteri 81), Lennon, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Keane (Berbatov 59), Bent (Defoe 72).
• Anderlecht's 30 games against English clubs have ended W6 D5 L19 (W6 D3 L7 in Brussels – W0 D2 L12 in England).
• Spurs' six games against Belgian sides have ended W2 D3 L1 (W2 D1 L0 at home – W0 D2 L1 away).
Form guide
• Anderlecht are without a victory in five European games (D3 L2).
• Spurs have not won in their last three European away fixtures (D1 L2).
• Anderlecht advanced to the round of 32 in all four of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, most recently in 2011/12.
• In seven previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League campaigns, Tottenham have failed to reach the round of 32 just once – in 2011/12.
Trivia and links
• The journey from London to Brussels is around 320km.
• Spurs have plenty of Belgian players: defenders Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, and midfielders Moussa Dembélé and Nacer Chadli.
• Anderlecht's Anthony Vanden Borre and Stefano Okaka Chuka were on loan at Portsmouth FC and Fulham FC respectively in 2009/10.
The coaches
• Previously assistant coach, former Albanian international Besnik Hasi assumed sole command at Anderlecht in 2014. Hasi's playing career took off after he moved to Belgium in 1994, the midfielder winning a title with KRC Genk and another with Anderlecht, where he returned after hanging up his boots at Cercle Brugge KSV.
• Mauricio Pochettino has been manager of Tottenham since summer 2014, the former RCD Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain defender brought to London after an impressive 18 months at Southampton FC. He was capped 20 times by Argentina, featuring at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.