{"id":146823,"date":"2025-09-16T07:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T07:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/146823\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T07:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T07:04:12","slug":"tottenham-hotspur-vs-villarreal-arsenal-vs-athletic-club-thomas-frank-ange-postecoglou-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/146823\/","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham Hotspur vs Villarreal, Arsenal vs Athletic Club, Thomas Frank, Ange Postecoglou news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ange Postecoglou’s<\/a> parting gift to Tottenham Hotspur will start to be unwrapped on Wednesday (5am kickoff AEST) as the club returns to the Champions League stage<\/a> against Villarreal.<\/p>\n

Postecoglou’s Europa League triumph in May<\/a> ended Spurs’ 17 year trophy drought – more than enough reason in itself to throw an open top bus parade through London.<\/p>\n

The 1-0 victory over Manchester United also earned Tottenham $10 million in prize money, as well as a fixed payment of $33m for reaching the Champions League league phase.<\/p>\n

Football’s new home, Stan Sport<\/a>, is the only place to watch the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, WSL, European World Cup qualifiers, J.League, NSWL and K League<\/p>\n

\"Ange<\/p>\n

Ange Postecoglou lifts the Europa League trophy as he acknowledges the fans.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Teams will earn $3.7m for each win in the league phase and $1.23 for each draw.<\/p>\n

Postecoglou, meanwhile, will try to go back-to-back in the Europa League, now with Nottingham Forest after getting the sack from Spurs in June.<\/p>\n

“I think Ange has done something special. He’ll forever be a legend in Tottenham,” Frank said after replacing him in north London.<\/p>\n

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\"Thomas<\/p>\n

Thomas Frank of Tottenham Hotspur.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s important to understand we all stand on the shoulders of others. I’m going in on the foundation Ange built, and his coaching staff, and I’m very humble about that. I’ll do my very best to continue the great work he put in.<\/p>\n

“The feeling, the excitement, the joy and the happiness in the fans’ faces, the pictures were ‘wow’ (after winning the Europa League). Hopefully, we can create more of those moments. That will be the ultimate dream: to do that and build on that.”<\/p>\n

It was always a matter of when, not if, Frank landed one of Europe’s top jobs, according to Pep Guardiola, and his upward trajectory continues with his Champions League debut.<\/p>\n

The Dane made his name turning humble London club Brentford into an established Premier League outfit.<\/p>\n

Frank, 51, has built a reputation as a forensic tactical mastermind, and has hit the ground running at Spurs, who have won three of their opening four Premier League games including a 2-0 win at Guardiola’s Manchester City.<\/p>\n

Frank has some prior experience of European club football, having taken Brondby into the Europa League qualifiers, but the home clash against Villarreal represents a sizeable step up for the man who spent seven years at Brentford.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/p>\n

Thomas Frank speaks to the media during a Tottenham Hotspur press conference.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“Obviously it is a big thing. I am hugely looking forward to it. I am sure it will be special when we hear that Champions League anthem playing,” Frank told reporters.<\/p>\n

“It’s a new experience tomorrow in many ways. We played in the Championship (second tier) with Brentford at Griffin Park in a small stadium.<\/p>\n

“Tomorrow we will be in one of the best stadiums in the world playing in the Champions League.”<\/p>\n

VILLARREAL PUNCHING ABOVE THEIR WEIGHT<\/p>\n

Far from being one of Spain’s big clubs, Villarreal are a club made in Frank’s image in many ways, maximising a small budget to punch above their weight with astute business in the transfer market.<\/p>\n

Frank declared Tottenham are in the tournament to win the trophy, but is mindful of the opening task.<\/p>\n

“We want to try and win it. But the most important thing is to take one game at a time. That begins with Villarreal, a very good team. Huge respect for (manager) Marcelino. His team is well structured, well organised and they like to dominate as much as they can on the ball.”<\/p>\n

Spurs have never won the Champions League and lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the 2019 final.<\/p>\n

While Frank is a relative novice in European competition, Cristian Romero, made skipper by the Dane, has a wealth of experience in the Champions League and is a World Cup winner with Argentina.<\/p>\n

His future at the club looked uncertain last season but he is thriving under Frank.<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Christian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur challenges Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“There were one or two things in the past, but now I see a club with great organisation, with clear ideas, with a manager who is putting things right,” Romero said.<\/p>\n

“I’m really happy since Thomas arrived. He took his decision to lengthen my contract, extend my contract. I like the managers that arrived. I like the way that we’re working, the way that we train,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is taking the right decisions here at the club, at all levels, to make sure that we’re going in the right direction to achieve success.”<\/p>\n

Tottenham will be without striker Dominic Solanke against Villarreal because of an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

“I don’t expect it to be too long but he won’t be available for this game,” Frank said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to use the lessons learned from last year’s semi-final exit to change the club’s history in the Champions League.<\/p>\n

Arteta’s side lost to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, ending their hopes of winning Europe’s biggest prize for the first time.<\/p>\n

“You take a lot of learnings from it,” Arteta told reporters ahead of their away game at Athletic Club in Spain on Wednesday (2.45am kickoff AEST).<\/p>\n

“It’s painful also because of the expectation that we created and the real conviction that we had within the club, the team, that we could go all the way. We showed a very high level of consistency and quality throughout the competition and learned from it and tried to be better.”<\/p>\n

\"Mikel<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta at St James’ Park.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Arsenal’s best Champions League finish was runners-up to Barcelona in 2006.<\/p>\n

“That tells you with our long history how difficult it is because we haven’t won it yet. And that’s the opportunity. That’s how I see it, ” Arteta said.<\/p>\n

“The big clubs, I mean, they try seven, eight, nine times, they win two. So in this competition, it’s going to be one, and you fail much more than you succeed.<\/p>\n

“That’s the history of our club. And that’s what we want to change.”<\/p>\n

Martin Odegaard did not make the trip to Bilbao after the midfielder went off early with a shoulder injury in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Forest, joining defender Ben White, winger Bukayo Saka and forwards Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

With a much deeper squad available this season, however, after signing the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke, Arteta is confident.<\/p>\n

“Excited to start again from scratch in a beautiful place in a stadium that is going to generate something special,” Arteta said.<\/p>\n

“The margins in this competition are super small and you have to be at your very best from day one to give yourself the best possible chance.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal are listed as the fourth favourite with the bookmakers to claim the title behind Barcelona, Liverpool and PSG.<\/p>\n

\"Viktor<\/p>\n

Viktor Gyokeres of Arsenal of Arsenal celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 3-0.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“They are one of the favourites to win the Champions League thanks to their technical and tactical ability, and the winning spirit that Arteta has instilled in them,” Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde said.<\/p>\n

“We have to be very careful and take advantage of opportunities. Arsenal won’t be forgiving.”<\/p>\n

The final league phase match day is January 28 (AEST).<\/p>\n

The top eight teams in the final standings advance to the round of 16 in March.<\/p>\n

Joining them will be winners of eight knockout playoffs, featuring teams ranked ninth to 24th, scheduled in February.<\/p>\n

The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ange Postecoglou’s parting gift to Tottenham Hotspur will start to be unwrapped on Wednesday (5am kickoff AEST) as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-146823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}