Ardiles: Euro draw gives my old club great chance

Spurs will be confident of qualifying from their group.

“I am sure Mauricio will be pleased with the draw,” he said. “At this stage you want the easiest possible draw. We do not have one of the three teams who are well ahead of the rest — Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich — so he will be happy.

“CSKA Moscow are Russian champions but they were maybe the weakest team i n p o t o n e . L e ve r ku s e n a re nowhere near the same level as Bayern but the German teams are always tough. The Monaco games will be good.

“It is very important to go through as group winners to avoid the other group winners in the next round, but the main thing is to go through — and I believe we can finish in the top two.”

Tottenham, back in the Champions League for the first time since 2010-11, will play their home matches at Wembley, with the capacity of White Hart Lane reduced as work continues on their new stadium.

Spurs start their group campaign with a game at Wembley against Monaco, who finished third in Ligue 1 last season, on September 14.

Ardiles, who famously played at the old Wembley in Spurs’ 1981 FA Cup triumph, is adamant his former team will not suffer playing at the national stadium, despite unfamiliar surroundings.

“No,” he said. “All the boys are used to playing in big games and in big stadiums, so that will not be a problem. It will be great for Spurs to play at Wembley. It has always been a good stadium for us and we have a lot of happy memories there. I think the pitch will suit us because we are a young, physical team with a lot of power. I have no fear at all about playing at Wembley.”