De Bruyne: Man City can handle atmosphere at Tottenham’s new home

Much has been made of Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, but Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne says his side has no fears about playing there when the clubs meet in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday night.

“I don’t care about the stadium,” the Belgium international told reporters ahead of City’s first visit to the new 62,062-seater venue.

“I care about the team we play. Everybody talks about the stadium like it’s something special. Everybody has a stadium, everybody has supporters.

“They’ll be up for it, they’ll probably be a little bit more excited, but in the end it’s a stadium with supporters. I don’t think there will be any difference.”

City is second in the Premier League, two points behind Liverpool, but having played a game less, and reached the final of the FA Cup after beating Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 on Saturday.

Having already won the League Cup this season, City is still on track for a quadruple but De Bruyne says there is “no point thinking about it”.

“You know how heavy the schedule is? I think people underestimate how the fixtures come that quickly. We don’t even have time to have a rest ourselves so how can we think about what’s going to happen in four weeks?”

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who will almost certainly be without midfielders Eric Dier and Erik Lamela on Tuesday, described the game as one of the biggest matches of his managerial career. He is all too aware of the quality in City’s ranks. “The first thing we need to do tomorrow is to run, because Davis Silva, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero, the first thing they do before they start to play is to run, to press, they fight for every single ball,” Pochettino told reporters.

“Manchester City’s strength is not the quality, of course they have the quality, but first of all they have the desire, the will to fight, and to match every opponent.

“Then because they have unbelievable quality they can win more games.”

Spurs will be playing in only their second Champions League quarterfinal, having lost 5-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid in 2011.

“It’s a massive bonus for us,” said Pochettino, whose side looked down and out after earning only one point from its opening three group games.

“I think it’s going to be a very tough game. We’ll start the game very aggressively. We want to be aggressive. We hope and wish that the atmosphere is going to be amazing and tough for our opposition.”

Liverpool confident Van Dijk, Wijnaldum will be set for Porto test

Meanwhile, Liverpool is confident Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum can shake off minor knocks in time to face Porto in Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Anfield, manager Juergen Klopp said on Monday.

The Dutch international duo were among a number of players with problems following Friday’s 3-1 Premier League victory at Southampton that left the title-chasing Merseyside club top of the standings with five matches remaining.

“We had little problems after the game... Wijnaldum a little back problem... I think even Virg from a fall on the ground. But they all should be OK, hopefully,” Klopp told reporters.

Center-back Joe Gomez, who has been sidelined since December after having surgery for a leg fracture, could feature while playmaker Adam Lallana is still recovering from a muscle issue.

Last season’s runner-up Liverpool dominated Bayern Munich last month, sealing a 3-1 away win after a goalless draw at Anfield to move into the quarterfinals.

“After the Bayern game everyone spoke about the 0-0 here and everyone said that wasn’t enough. It was clear we had a chance in Munich and we used it. Now we have to face Porto with the same respect,” said the German.

“We’re on fire at the moment, you see it in training. We want to write a few proper things in this season’s book... it’ll be a tough one but that’s how it should be.”

Liverpool beat Porto 5-0 on aggregate in last season’s round-of-16, with all the goals coming in the first leg in Portugal, but Klopp stressed they should not underestimate their rivals.

“We didn’t want Porto, to be honest... people with a proper idea about football didn’t. That’s the truth. But nobody wanted Liverpool,” he added. (Reuters) Champions League quarterfinals first leg on TV: Tuesday: Liverpool vs FC Porto (live on Sport5 at 10 p.m.); Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City (live on Sport5+ at 10 p.m.). Wednesday: Manchester United vs Barcelona (live on Sport5 at 10 p.m.); Ajax vs Juventus (live on Sport5+ at 10 p.m.).