Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur Preview: Spurs look to impress against a struggling Madrid

Tottenham Hotspur will face off against Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday afternoon to determine the first finalist of this year's Audi Cup.

The last meeting between the two sides came in the Champions League in the 2017/18 season, with Tottenham running out 3-1 winners at Wembley Stadium.

Both clubs have come a long way since then, with Real winning the Champions League that season whilst Spurs made the final in 2019.

Last time out

Whilst Tottenham come into the match on the back of a 2-1 defeat against Manchester United in Shanghai, Real come into the match having suffered a heavy 7-3 defeat against city rivals Atlético Madrid.

The 13-times European champions found themselves carved open time after time in New Jersey with former Chelsea striker Diego Costa bagging four, whilst former Lilywhite Kieran Trippier started the game for Los Rojiblancos.

Whilst Spurs also suffered defeat last time out, it was a much tighter affair as a late Angel Gomes strike sealed a 2-1 victory for Manchester United.

Team News

Spurs have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game but will be without Serge Aurier, Ben Davies and Eric Dier through injury whilst the game may come too soon for Hugo Lloris who returned to London last week to recover from illness.

Marco Asensio is out for Madrid after suffering an ACL injury which looks to have put his season in doubt.

Luka Jovic is also out for Real after picking up a knock against Atlético, as he fights to regain his fitness ahead of Real’s league opener.

After the collapse of a potential move to China this week, Gareth Bale may feature against his former employers for Real, but his frosty relationship with Zinedine Zidane may see him side-lined regardless as the Frenchman looks to move Bale out of Madrid.

Real Madrid's last match saw ten goals and four red cards | Source: (Getty Images, TF-images)

Key Battles

Ndombele vs Modric:

Tanguy Ndombele made an immediate impact on his Spurs debut, assisting a goal and dominating the midfield with his presence. Whether he can stop Luka Modric dictating the play will play a huge part in the result on Tuesday.

Kane vs Ramos:

Sergio Ramos has shown himself to be amongst the best centre-halves in world football at taking an opponent’s main threat out of the game in recent years. If he fails to do so here, Harry Kane will be looking to exploit the same defensive frailties exposed by Atlético on Saturday.

Hazard vs Foyth/Walker-Peters:

Mauricio Pochettino has been open to experimentation so far this preseason as far as the right-back birth is concerned following the sale of Kieran Trippier and injury to Serge Aurier. Whoever finds themselves up against the former Chelsea man will surely be in for a long afternoon.