AC Milan vs Tottenham LIVE: Champions League team news, line-ups and more tonight

Antonio Conte has suggested some of his Tottenham players are prone to collapsing under pressure ahead of tonight’s last-16 first-leg tie at AC Milan.

Conte, who says he is still not 100 per cent following gallbladder surgery, watched his side beat champions Manchester City and then follow it up by being thrashed 4-1 at Leicester at the weekend, when a spot in the Premier League top four was theirs for the taking.

Spurs have notoriously failed in big moments over the years and Conte has hinted some of his players cannot live with the pressure.

“If you want to win or achieve some targets and have a good position in the Champions League or in England in the Premier League you have to be stable,” he said. “And this stability is lacking this year. I always talk about it with my players. It is very difficult to keep concentration, it is very difficult to stay focused all of the time.

“It is not an easy task being so focused. We are working on that, playing under pressure all of the time is good for some players and bad for others. Sometimes players feel motivated, other times they feel so much under pressure that they can’t perform.

“Maybe for a period they have a good performance and then they collapse all of a sudden if they feel too much pressure. We are working on this, we want to make our players more resilient.”

Milan boss Stefano Pioli thinks his side, the current champions of Italy, are equal to Spurs.

He said: “We believe we’re equal to Tottenham. Winning the Champions League is a dream but it’s useless to think about it now.

“A week ago, they beat Manchester City, but we don’t come in better or worse than them. It will be a big game that we will have to play well.”

Spurs face a midfield crisis with Rodrigo Bentancur ruled out for the rest of the season after the midfielder ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the fixture against Leicester.

Yves Bissouma is also injured while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is unavailable through suspension. Captain Hugo Lloris and left-back Ryan Sessegnon also miss out through injury.

Milan are boosted by the return of Fikayo Tomori and Ismael Bennacer but remain without Alessandro Florenzi, Sergino Dest, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mike Maignan.

AC Milan: Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Kjaer, Tomori; Saelemaekers, Bennacer, Tonali, Hernandez; Diaz, Leao; Giroud

Tottenham: Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Porro, Sarr, Skipp, Perisic; Kulusevski, Son; Kane

With both sides’ inconsistent league form, it is tough to know how this fixture will turn out. A home crowd combined with Spurs’ massive absentees in the middle of the park will make Milan favourites but the away side’s dogged display against Man City may provide the blueprint for a snatch-and-grab away performance. AC Milan 1-1 Tottenham

The Champions League first leg will kick off at 8pm GMT on Tuesday 14 February.

Milan vs Tottenham will be shown live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate, with coverage starting from 7pm.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Tottenham vs AC Milan in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 at the San Siro tonight.

Antonio Conte’s side progressed to the knockout stages after a dramatic victory in Marseille, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s late goal securing top spot with the last kick of the game. Spurs come into the test against the Italian champions reeling, however, following a 4-1 thrashing at Leicester on Sunday, as well as a number of injury absences.

Tottenham have been rocked by the news that Rodrigo Bentancur has been ruled out for the season and with Hojbjerg and Yves Bissouma also injured, Conte is set to field an inexperienced midfield duo tonight. Harry Kane will hope to lead Tottenham towards the quarter-finals, however, as they face a Milan side who have also been struggling for form.

The Serie A champions have lost four of their last five matches in all competitions under Stefano Pioli, including heavy defeats to Inter, Lazio and Sassuolo. Milan, who are seven-time European champions, are looking to reach their first Champions League quarter-final since 2012.