Vidal crucial to the Barcelona 4-4-2 against Tottenham

It’s a game Tottenham simply can’t afford to lose after the last-gasp gut-punch inflicted by Inter Milan in their Champions League opener.

If there’s any time to face Barcelona it is now, however, as the Blaugrana stumble into Wembley having picked up two league points out of a possible nine against modest competition.

Meanwhile, Spurs have built up a sizable head of steam, with two league victories sandwiching a come-from-behind penalty shootout win against in-form Watford in the Carabao Cup..

AS screamed ‘4-4-2’ on its front page on Tuesday, as Ernesto Valverde reportedly turns back to his tried-and-tested tactic in a bid to safeguard Barca’s group stage passage – and perhaps his job.

The silk-steel hybrid at Barca is officially kaput. A fresh-legged Andres Iniesta and a tactically astute Xavi used to help Sergio Busquets out with the donkey work, but Barca simply no longer have that dynamism on and off the ball to accommodate three out-and-out forwards. Sorry, Ousmane Dembele.

Therefore if Valverde does break Barca’s purist tradition – again – Arturo Vidal becomes so important.

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In layman’s terms he is a monster upgrade to Paulinho, harrying and accosting players off the ball and potent on it (he delivered a pinpoint pass to Luis Suarez against Athletic Bilbao from which the Uruguayan should have scored).

Among the Tottenham ranks Dele Alli is out, Mousa Dembele is touch-and-go and the midfield combo of Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama is not the slickest.

Barcelona will have the lion’s share of the ball, but if Vidal can also disrupt Tottenham ball at source, he’ll plate up plenty of problems for Mauricio Pochettino.

Barca’s 4-4-2 romped to the La Liga crown last season – but Roma ran roughshod over it while surging towards one of the great Champions League comebacks.

Kevin Strootman, Radja Nainggolan and Daniele De Rossi all played the part of a schoolboy bully to disrupt Lionel Messi and Co’s rhythm.

Tottenham don’t have the same options in the middle of the park but they can take a leaf out of Roma’s play book by flipping ‘directly’ to the right chapter.

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Roma pinged balls over to Edin Dzeko all evening to the dismay of Gerard Pique, whose form is currently the stuff of nightmares.

Instead of Harry Kane though it will likely be Lucas Moura who leads the line, as he has done often this season in the Premier League.

His blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace is sure to trouble the leaden-footed Pique as well as Barca rookie Clement Lenglet – just as Inaki Williams did for Athletic on the weekend – while Kane can drop deep to create space between the lines and bail out his midfield.