In a match that could quietly be one of the best in this week's round of Champions League action, high-flying Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur are in Germany to face Bundesliga stalwarts Bayer Leverkusen. While the German side aren't quite enjoying the successes in league action the last two years, they're still plenty fun to watch, and will do everything they can to make Tottenham's visit to their country and their stadium an unpleasant one.
Bayer have become a decidedly younger team than they once were, but that doesn't mean that they're going to be remotely easy to take down. Be it through the goal-poaching prowess of Javier Hernández, the creative skills or stunning free kicks of Hakan Calhanoglu, the crunching midfield presence of Lars Bender, or the overwhelming energy of their young defense, Bayer can cause any team a multitude of problems if they get rolling. Getting rolling in a given match has been a problem for Bayer at times this season, though, and that might be the opening that Tottenham need to find a win in this match.
And if there is any such opening, you can be sure that Tottenham will work themselves to the bone to take advantage of it. They're struggling through a bit of an injury crisis at the moment, and while most of their walking wounded are available again, star striker Harry Kane is still out and key defender Toby Alderweireld just suffered a serious-looking knee injury over the weekend in league action. Still, they've shown great adaptability to dealing with injuries so far this season, demonstrating strong team depth and quality. Son Heung-Min in particular has stood out as a player to watch as he's worked hard to fill in for Kane, and you can bet that he'll be eager to score early and often against his former club, having enjoyed two strong years at the BayArena in Leverkusen before moving on to Tottenham in 2015.
No matter what, this match promises a lot of action and plenty of fun as two underrated teams square off with Champions League points on the line. That's never a bad thing.
To watch this match online in the U.S. you can stream it live on the Fox Soccer 2GO subscription service, or depending on your internet provider you can watch freely on Fox Sports Go or WatchESPN. In Germany, you can watch on Sky Go Deutschland, and in England the match will be shown on BT Sport Live Streaming. For listings in other countries, check out LiveSoccerTV.
TV: Fox Sports 1 (U.S. - English), ESPN Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), Sky Sport 1 HD (Germany), BT Sport 2 (U.K.)
Match Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany