AIM! Manchester City 1-0 AEK Athens (Anderson, 12 minutes)
Elliot Anderson scores his first goal for Manchester City, and it couldn’t have been simpler! It’s a free kick from around twenty meters, which Fernandez sends over the wall, into the bar, outside the goalkeeper, and which lands in front of Anderson, who finds the goal empty!
In Paris, the evening promises to be busy for the two goalkeepers. Joan Garcia has been tested from distance on several occasions, while Safonov in the PSG goal has just had a bit of work to do, most recently catching Cubarsi’s header on goal.
But there were goals in Naples, where Matteo Politano gave Napoli the lead in the first minute against Bodo/Glimt, and at Anfield, where Georges Mikautadze latched onto a Van Dijk back header to give Villarreal the lead!
PSG hits the post less than two minutes from time! It’s Kvaratskhelia with a shot from about 20 yards out, and the ball bounces off the woodwork straight to Dembele, who a) completely misses the target in embarrassing fashion, and not by a little, and b) is offside.
Peeeeeeeep! The games have begun! Except the one in Paris, which is late.
These are the final moments of the precursive pre-match preamble, moments before kickoff. “Now I’m just reading what you wrote and I don’t know what it looks like, but maybe this is the week to avoid excessive shootings in the French capital, don’t you think?” writes Jason Geer. Rest assured, it looked like the complete opposite of chaos.
The teams gather in the tunnels. In Paris, a very sophisticated light and fire show began.
Enzo Maresca says Haaland was left out “just to manage his minutes…and also since the last game he had a little problem. It’s just a mix of different things.”
The Barcelona locker room certainly doesn’t have appetizers to see, just a few small, unpromising plastic containers. PSG is not only at the top of the table, they also have a high table.
Meanwhile, the Atletico Madrid locker room in Stuttgart presents a small table and some bananas.
A glimpse of the Paris Saint-Germain locker room and its pre-match snack schedule. Fruit, of course, but also a variety of snacks. French teams, according to the law*, must offer a range of appetizers.
*Potentially non-factual
Erling Haaland is therefore only fit enough for the Manchester City bench, with Enzo Maresca making eight changes to the side that beat Ipswich on Saturday. The most eye-catching choice is 17-year-old midfielder Floyd Samba, son of former Blackburn and QPR centre-back Christopher.
The teams!
Team news filters through, and here are the people who received the Champions League sign:
Liverpool vs Villarreal
Liverpool: Alisson, Araujo, Jacquet, van Dijk, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Mac Allister, Ngumoha, Koumas, Gakpo. Submarines: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Kerkez, Wirtz, Isak, Barcola, Laffey, Chambers, McConnell, Danns.
Villarreal: Gulacsi, Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Cardona, Saliba, Gueye, Buchanan, Comesana, Moleiro, Mikautadze. Submarines: Junior, Costa, Freeman, Diatta, Gerard, Foyth, Akhomach, Macia, Oluwaseyi, Perez, El Jmili, Gaitan Diaz.
Arbitrator: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
Man City vs AEK Athens
Man City: Donnarumma, Lewis, Dias, Khusanov, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernandez, Allan, Cherki, Foden, Floyd Samba. Submarines: Bettinelli, Rulli, Guehi, Ndiaye, Haaland, Ait Nouri, Vitor Reis, Bouaddi, McAidoo, Braithwaite, Doku.
AEK Athens: Brignoli, Rota, Moukoudi, Relvas, Pilios, Majer, Arriaga, Marin, Joao Mario, Varga, Jovic. Submarines: Balamotis, Kairinen, Gacinovic, Zubkov, Koita, Mantalos, Vida, Lykogiannis, Vitalis, Zini.
Arbitrator: Willy Delajod (France).
Napoli against Bodo/Glimt
Naples: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Politano, Anguissa, McTominay, Spinazzola, De Bruyne, Lang, Hojlund. Submarines: Contini, Milinkovic-Savic, Badiashile, Gilmour, Olivera, Lucca, Giovane, Beukema, Lobotka.
Bodô/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Gundersen, Bjortuft, Bjorkan, Auklend, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Helmersen, Hauge. Submarines: Lund, Nielsen, Aleesami, Saltnes, Kitolano, Brynhildsen, Mvuka, Maatta. Arbitrator: José María Sánchez (Spain).
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Hernandez, Neves, Vitinha, Fabian, Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia. Submarines: Chevalier, Mouak, Lucas Beraldo, Torres, Akliouche, Digne, Godts, Mayulu, Fernandez, Zaire Emery, Ndjantou, Zabarnyi.
Barcelona: Joan Garcia, Joao Cancelo, Cubarsi, Gérard, Espart, Bernal, Gonzalez, Yamal, Olmo, Gordon, Raphinha. Submarines: Szczesny, Livakovic, Balde, Farinas, Gavi, Lopez, Gabriel Jesus, Adeyemi, Rodri, de Jong, Abdelkarim, Campos.
Arbitrator: Michael Oliver (England).
Porto vs PSV
Porto: Costa, Alberto Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Sanusi, Froholdt, Rosario, Veiga, Pepe, Aghehowa, Pietuszewski. Submarines: Claudio Ramos, Joao Costa, Hwang, Sainz, Perez, Andre Silva, Varela, Gimenez, Souza, Fofana, Fernandes, Moura.
PSV: Kovar, Dest, Geertruida, Gasiorowski, Kostic, Sano, Junior, Bajraktarevic, Til, Perisic, Mijnans. Submarines: Olij, Smolenaars, Obispo, Flamingo, Bro Hansen, Man, Fernandez, Santos, Bouhamdi, Cornecion.
Arbitrator: Daniel Siebert (Germany).
Roma vs Slovan Bratislava
Roma: Gollini, Ghilardi, Balerdi, Hermoso, Molina, de Roon, Pisilli, Wesley, Pellegrini, Mora, Malen. Submarines: Vasquez, De Marzi, Rensch, Koulierakis, Cristante, N’Dicka, Castro, Soule, Mancini, Di Nunzio, Lulli.
Slovak Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Bajric, Markovic, Cruz, Pokorny, Barseghyan, Ibrahim, Gajdos, Suleiman Camara, Marcelli. Submarines: Popovic, Kozlovsky, Wimmer, Hofstadter, Yirajang, Mustafic, Tomanek, Maros, Sahmkou Camara, Martinez, Ignatenko, Matsuoka.
Arbitrator: Sandro Scharer (Switzerland).
Stuttgart vs. Atlético Madrid
Stuttgart: Seimen, Chabot, Hendriks, Mittelstadt, Vagnoman, Promel, Stiller, Fuhrich, Leweling, El Khannous, Undav. Submarines: Bredlow, Funk, Al Dakhil, Demirovic, Jaquez, Karazor, Pejcinovic, Assignon, Nartey, Jeltsch, Sauer.
Atlético Madrid: Oblak, Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Grimaldo, Simeone, Hjulmand, Barrios, Baena, David, Alvarez. Submarines: Musso, Vargas, Mendoza, Johnny, Lee, Sorloth, Lookman, Ortiz, Le Normand, Dominguez, Martinez, Castillo.
Arbitrator: Serdar Gozubuyuk (Netherlands).
Preamble
Hello world! Another busy evening awaits in Europe and the English Football League, with much attention intended to focus on Paris, scene in recent days of violence and looting but which tonight hosts one of the prestigious meetings of the group stage as the teams occupying first and second place in the nascent table after two matches, five-time champions Barcelona and double defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, meet at the Parc des Princes.
Manchester City, meanwhile, could be without Erling Haaland for the visit of AEK Athens, who promises not to go all out on the defensive for a trip to a team that Marko Nikolic, the Serbian coach of the Greek club, describes as “one of the best teams in the world of football”. “We have to bring our identity, not change much and be strong on the pitch,” he said. “If you change and go defensive and just try to survive, it’s not going to work. We have to stick to the challenge. We want to do that with our game. We can be a decent opponent for everyone. I have a lot of confidence in our team.” You can get a good idea of what any good result would mean for AEK from the scenes of jubilant chaos that greeted yesterday’s 1-1 draw in the Uefa Youth League.
Beyond the two best teams in the tournament so far, tonight also sees the worst, with Slovan Bratislava traveling to Roma. The Slovan, who last failed to win the Slovak title in 2018, are currently fourth in their domestic league, but their position at the bottom of that table is largely down to the fact that they were unlucky to come up against PSG, who beat them 6-1, a goal difference from which they have yet to recover.
Champions League (8 p.m. unless otherwise indicated)
Fenerbahçe – Slavia Prague (5:45 p.m.)
Liverpool vs Villarreal
Manchester City vs AEK Athens
Napoli against Bodo/Glimt
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Barcelona
Porto vs PSV
Roma vs Slovan Bratislava
Sabah v Borussia Dortmund (5:45 p.m.)
Stuttgart vs. Atlético Madrid
Also! In the championship (Football League fixtures at 7:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted)
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Portsmouth
And in League One
AFC Wimbledon v Mansfield
Blackpool v MK Dons
Bromley v Leicester
Burton v Bradford
Cambridge v Wycombe
Doncaster v Stockport
Huddersfield v Peterborough
Luton v Barnsley
Notts County v Sheff on Wednesday
Oxford v Wigan
Stevenage v Plymouth
League Two
Barnet v Swindon
Bristol Rovers v Salford
Cheltenham v Fleetwood
Chesterfield v Colchester
Crawley v Shrewsbury
Exeter v Crewe
Gillingham v Port Vale (8 p.m.)
Northampton v Tranmere
Rochdale v Grimsby
Rotherham v Newport
Walsall v Oldham
York v Accrington
Gn sports
