Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch back Tottenham to reach Champions League quarter-finals despite AC Milan defeat

Rio Ferdinand thinks Tottenham are favourites to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals, despite their 1-0 first-leg defeat against AC Milan in the last 16. Brahim Diaz got the only goal of the game for the hosts at the San Siro as the Italian side missed two glorious late chances, meaning they only have a slender lead to take to London in March. Ad Speaking on BT Sport after the match, Ferdinand said, “I think Spurs will be the more confident team going into the second leg.

Champions League'Terrible', 'Massive fall from grace' — BT Sport pundits discuss Spurs inconsistency3 HOURS AGO «Home tie at their home ground. You’d like to think they’ve got their two big players in midfield — [Rodrigo] Bentancur and [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg — back in. “With that little bit more steel and grit in there and that ability to unlock the team, I think [Antonio] Conte will be a bit more confident going into the game.” Harry Kane was starved of service during the match and was reduced to minimal involvement as Milan restricted Tottenham to just three shots on target.

Ferdinand thinks the Spurs striker will have his say in the tie yet, saying, “Harry Kane will get more opportunities, he’ll have more influence on the game. »You’ll have a better version of Son [Heung-min]. These are all ifs, buts and maybes but when I played in the Champions League home advantage was massive.” Former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch agreed with Ferdinand but said “Spurs fans will be frustrated, it was an awful start”, as Diaz scored after just seven minutes.

“Milan could’ve been out of sight today, let’s not dress it up. They had two gilt-edged opportunities in the last few minutes there, could’ve been three. “This isn’t a great Milan side and there