Analysis | European football expert Andy Brassell on our UEFA ...

Our return to European football is only hours away as we face Qarabag in the new-look UEFA Europa League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday evening (8pm UK) - and who better than friend of the Club, European football expert Andy Brassell to run the rule over our eight opponents in the competition?

Well known for his work on talkSPORT, Sky Sports, The Guardian and The Football Ramble podcast - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy took time out to give us his expert opinion, starting with league phase Matchday 1 opponents, Azerbaijan champions Qarabag.

MD 1 - 26 September (home)

Azerbaijan champions for 10 of the last 11 years

Andy: "I was at the Spurs-Qarabag game (Europa League group stage, 3-1 win) back in 2015! I’ll be honest, I don’t think they’re quite as good as they were then, and if you go back a couple of years, they could get results in the Champions League, although they did push Bayer Leverkusen in this competition last season (lost 5-4 on aggregate in Round of 16). Look, they have a good European history, and they certainly have quality in there - for instance, Yassine Benzia, who came through the Lyon Academy in France, so obviously he’s a good player. He’s scored goals in the Champions League, so he's one to watch."

MD2 - 3 October (away)

Nemzeti Bajnokság (NB1) champions

Andy: "There are two interesting things here for me. One, they have a number of players who have played in the Champions League before, so that shows they have significant resources for that part of Europe. They have a nice, new stadium, this year they appointed Pascal Jansen as their coach, and he was the coach of AZ Alkmaar when they got to the semi-final of the Conference League, a really bright coach. He’s quite well known - his mum was a British pop star (Sue Chaloner). They’re ambitious, with players like Adama Traoré (Mali international) who has played in the Champions League. You’ll get a big atmosphere there as well. It’s not like playing in the national stadium, the Groupama Aréna is smaller, tighter and a bit noisier. Without getting amazing results, they’ve given big teams some difficult moments in the Champions League, so it will be interesting."

MD3 - 24 October (home)

Finished fourth in the Eredivisie last season

Andy: "They have a really good history in Europe in recent seasons, one of the teams for whom the introduction of the UEFA Conference League has worked really well. They did well in that, played West Ham in the semi-finals in 2023 and they’ve been decent in European competitions. They have experience in there, the likes of Jordy Clasie (formerly with Feyenoord and Southampton), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord, Porto, Stoke) and young players including Mark van Bommel’s son, Ruben and, of course, Troy Parrott from Spurs. They have an interesting mix and the fact that their standards have gone up so much, I think they were probably disappointed to finish fourth in the Eredivisie last season. They’ll be a tough test, I think."

MD4 - 7 November (away)

Turkish Süper Lig champions

Andy: "They have an amazing squad and they should be in the Champions League, no two ways about it (they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Young Boys in the play-off). That must be a huge disappointment for them. I was at the first leg against Young Boys, and they should have got something out of that (they lost 3-2) but Young Boys were better in the second leg, playing with less pressure. Galatasaray got through three qualifying rounds to reach the Champions League last season - they only needed to get through one this time around, but didn’t manage it. They were really good in the Champions League last season as well, great against Manchester United, twice, and they’ve built the squad since then. They’ve kept most of their players, although they sold Sacha Boey to Bayern, they signed Victor Osimhen (on loan from Napoli), still have players like Mauro Icardi, and they’re getting rid of players like Tete and Wilfried Zaha because they can’t get into the team. You’re talking about a really talented squad of players and the coach, Okan Buruk, is excellent, cosmopolitan, spent a year at Inter as a player and a really interesting guy. Obviously, there is pressure on them to do well in this competition. They won the competition in 2000, beating Arsenal in the final, and the Europa League is a big deal for them. And in terms of an away game, it doesn’t get much more exciting in Europe. It’s such an amazing football experience to go there. I couldn’t recommend it enough."

MD5 - 28 November (home)

Sixth in Serie A, UEL semi-finalists last season

Andy: "Roma had quite a big make over in the summer, so the recent sacking of Daniele De Rossi (18 September) was a surprise, the fans aren't happy about it - he's the second most popular figure in Roma history, after Francesco Totti. Immediately after, new coach Ivan Jurić, who has been really good at his previous couple of jobs at Torino and Verona, guided them to a win in his first game, quite emphatically against Udinese, who had been top of the league. Artem Dovbyk, top scorer in La Liga last season for Girona, scored his first goal in De Rossi's last game and then scored again against Udinese. It’s a rebuild with the likes of Alexis Saelermaekers (loan from Inter) and Manu Kone (on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach), younger, high tempo players that follows the plan to make the team a bit younger and more intense. Kone, in particular, is one heck of a pick-up. They've done well in European competition in recent times - won the inaugural UEFA Conference League in 2022 - but they've not played in the Champions League for six years, and that is their ultimate aim. This could easily be a Champions League tie."

MD6 - 12 December (away)

Runners-up in SPL last season

Andy: "It’s a really interesting one. Philippe Clement, if you feel he’ll be successful with Rangers, it might just come on the European stage. I think he’s a good coach, but he’s gone into Ibrox at the same time as Brendan Rodgers has gone back to Celtic, which is a bit unfortunate for him. The thing with Rangers, they’ve been great in the Europa League for about five years now. They’ve had some massive results as well, punched above their weight in European terms. Maybe that’s hard for people to absorb, but on the budget they’ve got, they’ve got far better results in Europe than they should have been able to achieve. They started hitting harder in Europe under Steven Gerrard and they’ve managed to continue that through successive coaches, including reaching the final under Giovanni van Bronckhorst in 2022, where they lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt, and when you consider the financial situation in Scottish football, that really is amazing."

MD7 - 23 January, 2024

Seventh in Bundesliga last season

Andy: "Hoffenheim had a good run-in to last season and it was quite a battle for Europe in Germany, so they beat some decent teams to qualify. I think they are one of the better teams in the competition. They’ve not gone in the Leipzig direction, where they’re pushing to win the league or Champions League - although they have played Champions League football, and produced great players, like Joelinton (now at Newcastle), Roberto Firmino (ex-Liverpool) and they are capable of spending money to shore up the squad. They have some really good players, Andrej Kramarić is the one to watch, an amazing player for them, real status, their record goalscorer of all time. He scored a hat-trick on the opening day of the Bundesliga this time around, and there are only two other players who have scored opening day hat-tricks in the Bundesliga – great Gerd Muller, Klaus Fischer, and him."

MD8 - 30 January, 2024 (home)

Runners-up in 2023 Allsvenskan

Andy: "They came really close to winning the Allsvenskan title in Sweden last season - they actually lost it on the final weekend of the season, to Malmo - then Jimmy Thelin, the coach, left for Aberdeen and some players went with him, but they’ve done well not to lose a load of players, there wasn’t the exodus you might have expected. His replacement, Oscar Hiljemark, is only 32, a young coach and quite interesting, and they’re in good form recently (one defeat in 12 since 1 August)."