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Key events
In more logical news, Kylian Mbappé has found the net for Real Madrid, so Mourinho’s men could still dig themselves out of an almighty Champions League hole.
Not many would have put money on neither Liverpool nor Madrid winning their games this evening, mind. Less than 10 minutes remaining in both.
3-2 Fener. Goodness me. It’s bedlam in Istanbul. What’s happened to Liverpool in the past few minutes?
Scratch that, Fenerbahce get themselves quickly level – as they did in the first half. This time Gakpo is at fault, and Archie Brown profits for the Turkish side. (2-2)
And big big news in Athens … AEK have scored! Stavros Pilios smashes home after a quick counterattack. Good grief, could Real Madrid really lose to the lowly Greek outfit? (2-1)
A potentially big goal for Liverpool: Alexander Isak jumps straight off the substitutes’ bench to nod Andoni Iraola’s men ahead in Istanbul. Good play from fellow sub Cody Gakpo to stand up a delicious cross that was waiting to be headed home. (1-2)
No such luck for Real Madrid in Athens, although José Mourinho has brought on Endrick and Federico Valverde in search of a winner. (1-1)
A couple of Arsenal-related reads for you, as we count down to kick-off in the Czech capital. Can the Gunners reach 10 points from their first four games of the Champions League?
A win tonight would do just that.
(Saliba is on the bench tonight, by the way, after Arteta talked up a possible return.)
Speaking of AEK Athens … the Greek champions are holding Real Madrid 1-1 after roughly an hour. Jude Bellingham scored a STUNNING flick for Los Blancos – do check that out on the ol’ socials. And Liverpool are still locked at the same scoreline with Fenerbahce. The big boys not having everything their own way as it stands in those early games.
City have made five changes from the team Enzo Maresca picked at the weekend, which lost 1-0 at home to Brighton. Nico O’Reilly hasn’t been a regular this season so it will be interesting to see how he fares at left-back, especially from an England perspective with the youngster still favoured in that role by Thomas Tuchel, though under pressure from Newcastle’s Lewis Hall.
Phil Foden, who comes in for Jérémy Doku, will be another player keen to impress the England boss. Three of Foden’s four goals in all competitions this season came in a single Champions League game against AEK Athens last month.
Team news from selected games
RB Leipzig v Manchester City
RB Leipzig: Vandevoordt; Baku, Orban, Lukeba, Raum; Banzuzo, El Aynaoui, Baumgartner; Gruda, Nusa, Rômulo.
Man City: Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’Reilly; Anderson, Fernández; Ndiaye, Cherki, Foden; Haaland.
Slavia Prague v Arsenal
Slavia: Domchak; Holes, Zima, Vicek; Nowak, Moses, Sadilek, Kublak; Ayaosi, Suleiman, Sturm.
Arsenal: Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapié; Zubimendi, Rice, Merino; Madueke, Eze, Gyökeres.
Other games
Elsewhere, the Como team lining up at Lens looking for their third victory in the Champions League includes the superstar attacker Nico Paz, with ex-Newcastle man Florian Thauvin the man to watch for Lens. Meanwhile in-form Dortmund include Jobe Bellingham and Fabio Silva in their lineup to take on Antony’s Real Betis at the Westfalenstadion.
It’s 1-1 at half-time in Istanbul after a deflected strike apiece for Fenerbahce and Liverpool.
Preamble
For all the valid arguments against the Champions League group phase using a ‘Swiss model’ – and there are many – it has at least produced an entertaining spectacle, with the bigger teams facing each other more regularly and the games, especially this season, producing lots of goals. Last night Manchester United discovered a new brand of chaos-ball to take centre stage, and take some heat off Michael Carrick, while Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain reminded us all why they are considered two of the favourites for the trophy, scoring nine goals between them.
Tonight, it’s the turn of Manchester City and Arsenal, who are away at RB Leipzig and Slavia Prague respectively, with both expected to win and win well. Even away from the English teams, there are some interesting ties: Borussia Dortmund v Real Betis and Porto v Napoli stand out as having the potential to thrill, and there’s also Lens v Como, PSV v Club Brugge and the titans of Viking meeting the giants of Sabah.
In the mean-time, Fenerbahce v Liverpool is ongoing – follow updates of that right here, as is AEK Athens v Real Madrid. We’ll follow those two games til their conclusion before getting stuck into the 8pm (GMT) games.
So that’s tonight’s football. Watch it – well, some of it. Or follow along on tonight’s clockwatch to keep tabs on pretty much all of it. We’ll bring you some of the team news headlines next.
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