Danny Rose optimistic of Tottenham's Champions League chances: 'I would never ever write them off'

Danny Rose Tottenham
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Danny Rose has refused to write off Tottenham Hotspur from winning this year's Champions League, despite his former team losing heavily to Leicester on Saturday in a 4-1 defeat.

Spurs commence their Champions League knockout campaign at the San Siro, playing AC Milan over two legs in the last 16 of the competition. Rose is no stranger to this stage, having reached the knockouts on three separate occasions with Spurs during his time at the club. 

When asked what he believes Tottenham's chances are against AC Milan over both legs, Rose seems assured that the North Londoners will progress to the quarter-finals.

"I'm pretty confident - I know they're coming off the back of a bad result and a bad performance at the weekend, but I'm not sure it can get much worse than what it was against Leicester," Rose tells FourFourTwo.

"I bank on Spurs tonight, either getting a draw or nicking it and definitely winning at home in a couple weeks time."

Danny Rose

Danny Rose was speaking to FourFourTwo courtesy of BT Sport (Image credit: Getty Images)

When it comes to later rounds, should Spurs progress, Rose sees no reason why they can't go all the way. After all, his side in 2019 were underdogs against both Manchester City and Ajax, but still managed to dramatically beat both en route to the final in Madrid.

He is still realistic with his aspirations, though, and tries not to place too much pressure on Spurs as they still need to beat AC Milan over two games to even begin thinking about later rounds. 

"Obviously it depends on the ties in later rounds if they get through, you have to get lucky in that respect.

"I think of all the teams that are left at the moment, I think it's fair to say that not many people will have Spurs down as one of the favourites to win it. But I've said before that the year that we got to the final - I know we didn't win it - there wouldn't have been many who had us down to reach the final, so I don't think Spurs should be looking at whether people think that they're favourites just you know.

"They just need to take one game at a time and see where it takes them. I wouldn't say they're one of the favourites but I would never ever write them off."

We’d kindly request the inclusion of a BT Sport tagline with tune-in information and an image in any resulting coverage from the interview.

Danny Rose spoke to FourFourTwo courtesy of BT Sport. BT Sport have exclusive rights to Champions League coverage in the UK, with coverage of Tottenham's game against AC Milan starting at 7pm GMT on BT Sport 1. 

Ryan Dabbs
Staff writer

Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.