Category: UEFA Champions League

Received wisdom before kick-off at Stadion Maksimir was that this was the ideal time to face Dinamo Zagreb. Celtic proceeded to prove this campaign is not the one in which to play them in the Champions League. While there will be a tinge of frustration from Brendan Rodgers that a draw was all that could be collected from a fixture in which they were the superior team, capitulation in Dortmund early in this campaign continues to look irregular.

Celtic are again a serious team at elite level in Europe; while progression to the knockout stage could not be sealed in Zagreb, there should be every confidence of that box being ticked when Young Boys visit Glasgow in the new year. One defeat from six until now is a fine Celtic return. Dinamo never looked particularly capable of altering that record.

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Mohamed Salah’s second-half penalty was enough to maintain Liverpool’s 100% record in the group stage

Beyond the goalies, two changes from the Newcastle game for Liverpool.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai in, Alexis Mac Allister out altogether and Jarell Quansah benched after a difficult night on Tyneside.

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• Left-back has not played for club in 16 months
• Arteta lacking in defensive options in Champions League

Kieran Tierney is set to feature for Arsenal for the first time in more than 16 months after Mikel Arteta revealed he expected to be without several key defenders for Wednesday’s Champions League meeting with Monaco.

Thomas Partey, Jurriën Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Magalhães did not train with the rest of the squad on Tuesday and Arteta said “some of them probably aren’t going to be fit” to face the French side, who have an identical record of 10 points from five fixtures.

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Eye-catching thrashings have been a feature of the revamped competition, but the cause is up for debate

If Paris Saint-Germain take an early lead at Red Bull Salzburg on Tuesday they may wonder whether to stick or twist. The new Champions League format has, at least in part, been designed to ensure Europe’s superpowers have fewer opportunities to fail, so their position risks embarrassment. They will not even qualify for the playoff round in February unless they improve on 25th place and, with three league-phase games remaining, are two points and three goals shy of the cutoff.

A tight 1-0 would prise the door back open but that might not cut it in this season’s competition. Salzburg are a shadow of their former selves and it should be an invitation to rack up a big score. The majority of PSG’s rivals have done so at least once: this edition of the tournament has been hallmarked by booming scorelines and the question, in a week that promises more of them, is why.

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Europe’s finest head-scratching struggles go on. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action

Inter: The 2023 finalists are second in the table and yet to concede a goal. They are yet to score many either, notching only seven goals in their five games. The latest victims of Simone Inzaghi’s smooth, efficient machine were RB Leipzig, whose own calamitous pointless campaign continued with a 1-0 defeat. An own goal from Castello Lukeba decided it after a wicked free-kick from Federico Dimarco, the wing-back playing an unfamiliar midfield role but was just as dangerous. As Leipzig desperately chased something from the match to rescue their campaign, it fell to the Inter defence to show off their usual control, the experience of Benjamin Pavard, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni as the defensive trio seeing out the job in some comfort.

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• Dutch side win 3-2 from 2-0 down after 87 minutes
• Monaco 2-3 Benfica, Red Star Belgrade 5-1 Stuttgart

PSV staged a dramatic Champions League comeback against 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk in Eindhoven, winning 3-2 from two goals down in the 87th minute.

The visitors went in front after just eight minutes from a quick breakaway, with Yukhym Konoplia setting up Danylo Sikan, whose shot squeezed beyond PSV keeper Walter Benítez. Oleksandr Zubkov doubled Shakhtar’s lead with a superb curling finish in the 37th minute, putting the Ukrainians in control of the match.

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Morgan Rogers had a last-gasp goal ruled out by VAR to deny Villa a win from a highly cagey affair

A pair of stats, via Sky.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has beaten Juventus twice before in the UEFA Champions League, winning with Sevilla in 2015 and Villarreal in 2022. No manager has ever beaten Juve with three different teams in the competition.

Juventus have only won three of their last 15 away matches against English sides in European competition (D3 L9), while this will be their first such trip since losing 0-4 to Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League in November 2021.

Juventus are unbeaten under Motta, with the best defensive record in Serie A. Things haven’t yet quite clicked at the other end, but early in the project the direction of travel feels encouraging and Thuram has established himself as a key player in midfield: tactically disciplined, defensively solid, but with the licence to get into the final third and create.

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• Manchester City manager cut his nose with nail at game
• Ilkay Gündogan describes team’s form as ‘inexplicable’

Pep Guardiola has said he did not intend to “make light of the very serious issue of self-harm” when he answered a question relating to a cut he made on his nose during Manchester City’s 3-3 draw with Feyenoord.

Guardiola was asked about the cut after City threw away a three-goal lead in Tuesday’s Champions League tie and said: “From my finger … with my nail. I want to harm myself.” He then laughed and got out of his chair to leave the press conference.

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The Juventus midfielder discusses his father’s activism, what Thierry Henry always told him and how Douglas Luiz views the challenge of facing Aston Villa

“I don’t know if it was destiny,” says a beaming Khéphren Thuram over a video call from Turin, but all the same he can glimpse a certain poetry in his journey. Born in Italy, the son of the great Juventus defender Lilian Thuram, now running the midfield in those same black and white stripes. “It’s a beautiful story,” he says. “People outside see the romance in it. But I’m just doing my job.”

On Wednesday his job takes him to Villa Park in the Champions League, the first time the 23‑year‑old will play competitively on English soil. Not that he will be underprepared. His teammate Douglas Luiz has already briefed him on their forthcoming opponents. “We speak about Aston Villa,” Thuram says. “He told me he had a great time over there, that the fans are great. And I watch a lot of Premier League. It’s going to be a good game.”

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• ‘I don’t know if it is mental,’ says manager after blown lead
• Guardiola must lift City after Feyenoord’s late fightback

Pep Guardiola admitted his “fragile” Manchester City side face a tough season and that he must lift the players for their trip to Liverpool on Sunday after they allowed a 3-0 lead against Feyenoord to slip to 3-3 in Tuesday’s Champions League game.

The draw ended a five-match ­losing sequence but, after ­cruising at 75 minutes with two Erling Haaland goals and one from Ilkay ­­Gündogan, City capitulated as a panic set in and Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Giménez and David Hancko scored to claim a point for the visiting side. Hadj Moussa and Giménez finishes were ­initiated by loose Josko ­Gvardiol passes, while Hancko’s equaliser came after ­Ederson rushed out and missed the ball.

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• PSG outside playoff places after 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich
• Inter top after beating Leipzig; Barcelona best Brest 3-0

Bayern Munich battled past 10-man Paris Saint-Germain 1-0, thanks to Kim Min-jae’s winner, to improve their chances of automatic qualification and leave the visitors in trouble after a third defeat in the competition.

With PSG’s only win so far coming against Girona in their opener they were desperate for points, but Bayern struck first with South Korea’s Kim heading home from close range after the goalkeeper Matvei Safonov fluffed a corner in the 38th minute.

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Manchester City’s losing sequence is over – just. But they remain a listing ship that can go down at any moment. “Fragile” was Pep Guardiola’s summation of his team’s state, and a clue to the manager’s own mood was the cut to his nose he stated was self-inflicted, by a finger, due to the contest’s travails.

City were 3-0 up after 75 minutes but a late horror show ceded the advantage as Feyenoord preyed on home nerves via Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Giménez and David Hancko, who drew Feyenoord level to earn a well-fought point.

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City were cruising at three goals up and yet conceded three late goals to extend their horrible run of form

The headlines: De Bruyne still on the bench, and so is Gimenez. Walker dropped, as is Savinho.

In: Nathan Ake, Matheus Nunes and Jack Grealish. Out: Walker, Savinho and John Stones, who isn’t in the squad at all.

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• Manager says absence of contract offer is not distraction
• Alexander-Arnold not fit to start against Real Madrid

Arne Slot has claimed Mohamed Salah’s contract standoff with Liverpool may be bringing the best out of the forward and is not a distraction from a hugely important week for the club.

Salah’s admission that he is “more out than in” at Liverpool owing to the absence of a contract offer has overshadowed the buildup to Wednesday’s Champions League game against Real Madrid and Manchester City’s visit in the Premier League on Sunday.

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• Hoops chasing fourth straight home win in Europe
• Champions League progress will define club’s season

Caution from Brendan Rodgers over Celtic’s prospects in the Champions League is perfectly understandable. Thoroughbred racehorses know how to time their run. That Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Milan, Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain started this week behind Celtic in the newfangled version of European football’s premier club competition is likely to prove a temporary impasse. Celtic, despite a hugely promising start, were 15th before Tuesday evening’s fixtures. The Scottish champions have not altered their goal of reaching the playoff round. Seven points from a possible 12 has not changed aspirations that existed before a ball was kicked in anger.

Rodgers revelled in Celtic’s dismantling of RB Leipzig in the last round. Pre-match media duties for the subsequent Scottish Premiership stop at Kilmarnock were dominated by what had transpired days earlier. This was fair; Celtic have taken such public kickings for failures in Europe over recent years that they were entitled to purr over happier times. The performance against the German club was exceptional and a justification of Rodgers’ decision to return for a second Celtic tenure in 2023.

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