Richarlison starts, Kulusevski benched: Confirmed Tottenham starting XI to face Marseille

Confirmed Tottenham starting XI to face Marseille in the UCL tonight

Tottenham Hotspur take on Olympique de Marseille tonight in their opening Group D fixture of this season’s UEFA Champions League.

Spurs reached this competition by finishing fourth last season while OM finished runners-up behind Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Ligue 1. Their group contains Portuguese giants Sporting CP and last season’s Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt.

Those two teams are currently playing against each other at the time of writing, and the scoreline stands at 0-0 with the second half in progress. The full-time whistle is yet to be blown there.

Spurs finally handed Richarlison his first start of the season in the team’s 2-1 London derby win against Fulham in the Premier League this weekend. Dejan Kulusevski was benched but did come on as a substitute later in the game.

For this game, the Italian manager has gone with the former Everton man once again. Lucas Moura and Bryan Gil expectedly miss out from the matchday squad. The full starting XI is visible in the tweet below from the official club Twitter account:

A win here is important. It is crucial for Spurs to get wins at home if they want to make it through this group as winners, which gives teams an advantage when it comes to being handed their last-16 opponents.

Marseille, managed by Conte’s former Juventus teammate Igor Tudor, come into this game after a Ligue 1 win against Auxerre by a 2-0 margin. They are currently 2nd in the table behind PSG.

More Tottenham News:

• Fabrizio Romano explains why Tottenham jumped the gun with Destiny Udogie transfer
• Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg makes admission about ‘crazy’ Richarlison
• Tottenham star Eric Dier credits Antonio Conte for the best form of his career

In competitive fixtures, this is the first time the two teams are being pitted against each other in history.