Key events
The RB Leipzig and Aston Villa players are in the tunnel.
Jamie Jackson
Pep Guardiola has ruled himself out of managing another club after Manchester City due to a waning of his energy levels, stating an international coaching position would be of interest to him as his next role.
Guardiola signed a new contract with the champions in November until summer 2026 that will extend his tenure to a decade. The 53-year-old is yet to decide if he will depart then but, whenever he does, Guardiola has said he will not take charge of a club side again.
Mike in LA gets in touch: “Could anyone have predicted that Celtic would be above Man City, Juventus, and Real Madrid (OK, they have a game in hand) in the table this late into the tournament? And you can’t say that they’ve played demonstrably worse than their new peer clubs.
“Yeah, yeah, it ain’t gonna last. But for a while …”
Why not check out the latest Champions League table? Such fun.
“This is an email,” emails Richard Hirst. “Have just moved across to you from John Brewin: have a good evening.”
You too, Richard. Welcome aboard.
“Maybe you’d get more emails if you were covering the “proper” footie from tonight’s big games in the “Hardest League in the world TM”, namely at Eldorado-chasing Beerrrrrnleh, Soonderland and NastyLeeds,” emails Jeremy Boyce. “You know, footie that really counts!”
I shall be at Millwall v Sheffield United tomorrow – can’t wait!
“This game is not going to live long in the memory bank, that’s for sure,” says TNT Sports pundit Joe Hart of Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Celtic, which is a final score.
Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Celtic is a latest score. About to finish.
Could someone “>send me an email? Preferably about football – lol!
Liverpool have won – of course they have! Mohamed Salah got the goal in a 1-0 win at Girona. That is six out of six for Arne Slot’s side.
Ben Fisher
Unai Emery has urged Aston Villa to “break our limit” by enhancing their chances of advancing automatically to the Champions League last 16 with victory against RB Leipzig. Villa, in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 1983, can take a major step towards the knockout phase if they can defeat the Bundesliga side, who have not registered a point after five matches.
Nick Ames
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.
Victor Gyokeres, formerly of Coventry, clearly has an eager social media manager.
He leads the line for Sporting at Club Brugge.
Club Brugge v Sporting teams
Club Brugge: Mignolet, Seys, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper, Nwadike, Jashari, Skov Olsen, Vanaken, Tzolis, Jutgla. Substitutes: Jackers, Romero, Vetlesen, Vermant, Nilsson, Nielsen, Spileers, Sabbe, Talbi.
Sporting: Israel, Quaresma, Diomande, Inacio, Quenda, Hjulmand, Simoes, Araujo, Trincao, Catamo, Gyokeres. Substitutes: Kovacevic, Callai, Matheus Reis, St Juste, Debast, Edwards, Harder, Fresneda, Ricardo Esgaio, Brito, Couto, Arreiol.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
Bayer Leverkusen v Inter Milan teams
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie, Mukiele, Palacios, Xhaka, Grimaldo, Frimpong, Wirtz, Tella. Substitutes: Hradecky, Lomb, Andrich, Terrier, Arthur, Schick, Garcia, Stepanov, Onyeka, Belocian.
Inter Milan: Sommer, Bisseck, de Vrij, Bastoni, Darmian, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Zielinski, Carlos Augusto, Thuram, Taremi. Substitutes: Josep Martinez, Calligaris, Arnautovic, Lautaro Martinez, Buchanan, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Barella, Dimarco, Aidoo.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
RB Salzburg v Paris Saint-Germain teams
RB Salzburg: Schlager, Capaldo, Dedic, Samson Baidoo, Guindo, Bidstrup, Gourna-Douath, Gloukh, Yeo, Ratkov, Dorgeles. Substitutes: Oelz, Hamzic, Terzic, Blank, Okoh, Bajcetic, Clark, Diambou, Kawamura, Daghim, Mellberg.
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, Fabian, Lee, Goncalo Ramos, Barcola. Substitutes: Safonov, Tenas, Asensio, Doue, Hernandez, Muani, Zaire Emery, Lucas Beraldo, Skriniar, Zague.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
Brest v PSV teams
Brest: Bizot, Le Cardinal, Chardonnet, Niakhate Ndiaye, Haidara, Camara, Fernandes, Magnetti, Del Castillo, Balde, Doumbia. Substitutes: Coudert, Jauny, Lala, Camblan, Sima, Amavi, Pereira Lage, Salah, Irie.
PSV: Benitez, Karsdorp, Flamingo, Boscagli, Dams, Saibari, Junior, Tillman, Bakayoko, de Jong, Lang. Substitutes: Drommel, Schiks, Obispo, Pepi, Til, Schouten, Veerman, Lozano, Oppegard, Ledezma.
Referee: Jose Maria Sanchez (Spain)
Atalanta v Real Madrid teams
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac, Bellanova, de Roon, Ederson Silva, Ruggeri, Pasalic, De Ketelaere, Lookman. Substitutes: Rui Patricio, Rossi, Toloi, Kossounou, Godfrey, Zaniolo, Samardzic, Palestra, Retegui, Brescianini, Zappacosta.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Lucas, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Garcia, Diaz, Ceballos, Valverde, Bellingham, Mbappe, Vinicius Junior. Substitutes: Lunin, Mestre, Modric, Rodrygo, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Lekhedim, Asencio, Andres.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
RB Leipzig v Aston Villa teams
RB Leipzig: Gulacsi, Geertruida, Orban, Seiwald, Henrichs, Baumgartner, Vermeeren, Haidara, Nusa, Sesko, Openda. Substitutes: Vandevoordt, Klostermann, Andre Silva, Sakar, Jatta, Kampl, Gebel.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Diego Carlos, Torres, Digne, Kamara, Tielemans, Cash, McGinn, Rogers, Watkins. Substitutes: Gauci, Olsen, Mings, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Onana, Bogarde, Swinkels.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich teams
Shakhtar Donetsk: Riznyk, Konoplya, Bondar, Matviyenko, Ghram, Marlon Gomes, Zubkov, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Kevin, Sikan. Substitutes: Fesyun, Traore, Stepanenko, Eguinaldo, Kryskiv, Shved, Azarovi, Augusto, Nazaryna, da Silva Pedrinho, Newerton, Faryna.
Bayern Munich: Peretz, Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Guerreiro, Kimmich, Goretzka, Olise, Musiala, Sane, Muller. Substitutes: Schmitt, Dier, Ibrahimovic, Boey, Irankunda, Aseko-Nkili, Tel, Pavlovic, Aznou, Klanac.
Referee: Halil Meler (Turkey)
Preamble
“Absorbing” is a term often used by commentators when trying to be nice about an indifferent match. So let’s also call this new-fangled Champions League format absorbing.
Tonight’s tranche of fixtures is headlined by Atalanta v Real Madrid along with Bayer Leverkusen v Inter – unless you happen to be an Aston Villa fan, in which case, the Villans’ away trip to RB Leipzig will be commanding your attention.
Brest v PSV, Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich and Club Brugge v Sporting are also on the menu, while there is jeopardy for Paris Saint-Germain in their away date with RB Salzburg. Luis Enrique’s men desperately need to add to their one win from five matches thus far.
I’ll endeavour to bring you all the goals as they go in. Are you not absorbed? Allez! Or, as we say in England, Go!
Kick-off: 8pm
