Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld has not travelled to Turin for Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first-leg tie against Juventus.
Alderweireld is being eased back from a hamstring injury he sustained in November and was not in the squad for Saturday’s victory over Arsenal.
His fellow defenders Juan Foyth and Kyle Walker-Peters are also absent.
Juventus, second in Serie A, will be without Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Andrea Barzagli and Blaise Matuidi.
Alderweireld, who is out of contract in the summer, played the full 90 minutes of Spurs’ FA Cup replay win over Newport but has not played in the Premier League since the 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on 28 October.
“He had a massive injury and from day one we designed a plan to provide him with the best tools to recover as soon as possible and to be stronger than before,” said manager Mauricio Pochettino.
“He has started to work with the team and it’s our judgement that he needs to build his fitness.”
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Spurs reached the knockout stage by topping Group H, which included Borussia Dortmund and holders Real Madrid.
Juve, meanwhile, finished second behind Barcelona in Group D.
The Serie A side have won their past 10 games in all competitions but must do without striker Dybala (hamstring). Matuidi’s place in midfield is likely to be taken by Claudio Marchisio.
Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri said: “We know their strengths and we know that we will have to suffer for some parts of the game because Tottenham have four players with great quality in attack.
“We have achieved very good results in Europe. Only Real Madrid have done better in my opinion in recent years.”
Match facts
- This will be the first competitive meeting between the clubs.
- Tottenham have reached the knockout stage of the Champions League for the second time in three appearances. They have never progressed further than the quarter-finals.
- Spurs are one of four teams still unbeaten in this season’s Champions League, alongside Barcelona, Besiktas and Liverpool.
- Juventus are unbeaten in their past 22 Champions League home games (W14 D8), their longest such run. Bayern Munich were the last team to beat them in Turin, back in April 2013.
- Juventus have lost only two of their past 19 Champions League games (v Real Madrid in last season’s final and Barcelona in this season’s group stages), winning 12 and drawing five.
