Swiss task for wary Spurs

(GSM) – Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp is not taking anything for granted as his side prepare to face Switzerland’s Young Boys for a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

The London club were handed the easiest route possible in Friday’s play-off draw, after avoiding the likes of Dynamo Kyiv, Sampdoria, Auxerre and Celtic’s conquerors Braga.

The Swiss side have failed to get past the first round of a major European competition since 1988 and the nearest the Swiss side have got to winning a European trophy is when they reached the 1959 European Cup semi-finals.

Tottenham won the UEFA Cup in 1972 and 1984 but the first leg in Bern a week on Tuesday will be their first European Cup match for almost half a century.

Young Boys played in the Champions League qualifiers as recently as 2004/05, failing to get past Red Star Belgrade, and they shocked Fenerbahce in the previous round, winning 1-0 in Turkey on Wednesday to seal a 3-2 aggregate victory.

“We’ll be favourites, obviously, but we have to give them the utmost respect,” Redknapp told Tottenham’s official website.

“They beat Fenerbahce in the last round. We watched the first leg on DVD and they could have won four or five; they hammered them at home.

“They then went away and won in Turkey and that’s a fantastic result.

“There are no easy games at this level. They also have an astroturf pitch at their stadium and they play well on it, so it will be a tough game for us.”

And Spurs are to lock horns with Manchester City before they face Young Boys, when they aim to realise their dream of getting into the Champions League proper.

“We’ll have to be prepared for it but we’ve got Manchester City before that in the Premier League (August 14) and that’s the first priority,” Redknapp added.

“We’ll get that one out of the way and then it will be into the Champions League and we’ve got to try to get into the group stages; that would be fantastic for the club.”