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It’s football not handball, Virgil. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters
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GOAL! Olympiacos 1-1 Real Madrid (Mbappe 22). It’s not taken that long for Real to get back into it in Piraeus. Vinícius Júnior splits the home defence with a pass down the inside-left channel, releasing Kylian Mbappé, who advances on the box before slamming into the bottom left. And then …
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Bayern Munich (Timber 22)
BREAKING NEWS: it’s a set piece. Michael Butler has the details.
Liverpool 1-1 PSV. It’s all happening at Anfield. Now Hugo Ekitiké enters the box down the right and nudges the ball away from Anass Salah-Eddine, who misses the ball and clanks into his man. Ekitiké goes over and claims the penalty, but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest. That’s a very strange decision, as the PSV defender definitely made contact. But who knows anything any more?
Liverpool 1-1 PSV. Virgil van Dijk’s nightmare start continues as he slides in late on Ismael Saibari, who was making good down the right. Yellow card. From the resulting free kick, swung into the six-yard box, Saibari flicks a shot straight at Giorgi Mamardashvili, and the rebound is slotted by Yarek Gasiorowski. But Saibari was offside, and the goal is chalked off. Liverpool’s defence is a rabble, and their captain’s brain is swimming.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 PSV (Szoboszlai 16)
Cody Gakpo dribbles hard down the left and aims for the bottom-right corner. Matěj Kovář does well to parry, but can only push the ball out to Dominik Szoboszlai, who slams home from 12 yards. The perfect response to a(nother) crisis.
Sporting 0-0 Brugge. Morten Hjulmand is sent off for high-kicking an opponent in the head … but then the decision is overturned by the referee after he checks the screen. Hjulmand is judged to have done enough in attempting to pull his boot away.
GOAL! Atlético Madrid 1-0 Internazionale (Alvarez 9). Giuliano Simeone crosses from the right. Álex Baena meets it at the far post. The ball rears up and pings off his body, into the path of Julián Alvarez, who sweeps home. The goal’s initially ruled out for handball by Baena, but once the referee checks the VAR screen, he changes his mind. Chest. Goal!
GOAL! Olympiacos 1-0 Real Madrid (Chiquinho 8). Olympiacos one-two their way down the inside-left channel, then Francisco Chiquinho lashes a glorious low drive into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box. Real had been on top during the early moments, too. More problems for the (preposterously) under-pressure Xabi Alonso.
PSG 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are giving as good as they’re getting in these early exchanges at the Parc des Princes. In these bright yellow shirts, they’re doing the legend of Glenn Hoddle, Garth Crooks, Steve Archibald et al proud. So far.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 PSV (Perisic 6 pen)
Ivan Perisic steps up, gives Giorgi Mamardashvili the eyes, and slots confidently into the bottom right. What a clinical spot kick. What utter nonsense from Virgil van Dijk. Arne Slot has a face on, and no wonder: these days, when Liverpool go behind, Liverpool lose.
Liverpool 0-0 PSV. The Dutch champions are on the front foot immediately. One corner leads to another, then Virgil van Dick sticks his arm up in the penalty area – real ask-me-miss shapes – and the referee points to the spot! What on earth was the Liverpool captain doing?! He claims Jerdy Schouten shoved him from behind in mid-air, but he can have no complaints. Dearie me!
PSG 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur. Both teams are in a change kit tonight. PSG wear fourth-choice black, while Tottenham are sporting a yellow kit with old-school crest. Real 1982 FA Cup final vibes. It’s a beauty, they really need to get that badge back.
Here we go, then. It’s all happening.
All across the continent, teams line up to hear Zadok the Priest get his usual Uefa-sanctioned kicking. Poor Zadok’s a-cold! All of which is a roundabout way to say that we’ll be off in a minute. Big night coming up.
TNT have a quick word with Thomas Frank before kick-off. “There is one game in front of us, that’s PSG … if you look too much in the past you forget to look forward and do everything you can to perform now … that is all about performing tonight … make sure we compete … are brave … we are playing against a very mobile team … we have to match that … be aggressive … we need mobile, front-footed midfielders … a big night for us … we need to put a fight in.”
Pre-match postbag. “Much as I want English clubs to do well in the Champions League (even including Chelsea, but obviously not Man Utd were they ever to qualify again), Fulham are not in a secure enough position for me to pass up the opportunity of Spurs being clobbered tonight, so as to leave them wounded for Saturday’s big one. (And can I make an early bid for the longest sentence of the evening?). So come on PSG, turn it on for the lads” – Richard Hirst
“As a Spurs fan, is it better to watch a low-confidence Spurs take on the European Champions or to seek joy in watching Harry Kane and Bayern spank Arsenal with a narrative-breaking 3-0 victory? Erm, asking for a friend” – Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo
“To use a North Americanism, if I had my druthers, I would prefer Robertson to Kerkez. Van Dijk seems to have an innate sense where Robertson will be, but has no idea with Kerkez. Let’s be honest; sometimes signings don’t work out” – Joe Pearson
FULL TIME: Copenhagen 3-2 Kairat; Pafos 2-2 Monaco
Both of the 5.45pm kick-offs have just finished. Copenhagen were three goals up with nine minutes to go at home against Kairat, and survived a spirited late comeback to secure their first three-point haul of their campaign. Meanwhile Monaco defender Mohammed Salisu’s late own goal gave Pafos a 2-2 draw in Limassol, and the Cypriot underdogs are currently in the play-off positions. Here’s how the Champions League now looks as we go into this evening’s matches.
Arne Slot talks to TNT Sports. “You reflect and look forward [after the Forest match] … the reflection was about a few moments … we had 75 percent ball possession … but the few moments we had to defend, we did not defend in the same manner as Forest did … if the other team throws themselves in front of a ball and blocks every cross and shot then it’s far from sure you win … football-wise I cannot blame [the players] so much … but the few moments we have to defend better … I had to say something [after the Forest defeat] but I wasn’t the only one very annoyed.”
Slot meanwhile confirms that Alisson is ill, while Curtis Jones will start at right-back, with Dominik Szoboszlai moving back into midfield. “Both can play in that position, as Joe Gomez can, but he’s been struggling a bit with a knee injury.” As for Alexander Isak dropping to the bench: “Alex in the last four weeks played 30 minutes and then with us he played 70 minutes in a game that wasn’t so intense because we dominated ball possession, but it wasn’t easy for him to manage himself through that 70 minutes. If you have another No9 who is also very good, it makes sense to play the other one and that’s Hugo [Ekitike] tonight.”
“All of those big-name team-sheets and no mention of the evening’s top fixture, the battle between first versus second, Arsenal v Bayern Munich???!” we hear you ask. Now, would we ever disappoint you? Well, OK, but in this instance, Michael Butler has all the details over on our bespoke MBM. Make sure you come back for some Clockwatch action, won’t you.
Other team news
Atletico Madrid: Musso, Molina, Gimenez, Hancko, Ruggeri, Simeone, Barrios, Johnny, Gallagher, Alvarez, Baena.
Subs: Gonzalez, Raspadori, Galan, Pubill, Lenglet, Martin, Almada, Sorloth, Griezmann, Koke, Esquivel, de Luis.
Internazionale: Sommer, Akanji, Bisseck, Bastoni, Carlos Augusto, Barella, Calhanoglu, Zielinski, Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Bonny.
Subs: Josep Martinez, Taho, de Vrij, Sucic, Thuram, Luis Henrique, Acerbi, Frattesi, Diouf, Cocchi, Alexiou, Esposito.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Zetterer, Collins, Koch, Theate, Brown, Dahoud, Chaibi, Doan, Gotze, Knauff, Burkardt.
Subs: Grahl, Santos, Amenda, Hojlund, Kristensen, Skhiri, Wahi, Bahoya, Chandler, Buta, Batshuayi, Dills.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Kossounou, Hien, Djimsiti, Bellanova, de Roon, Ederson Silva, Zappacosta, De Ketelaere, Lookman, Scamacca.
Subs: Sportiello, Musah, Sulemana, Pasalic, Samardzic, Kolasinac, Brescianini, Bernasconi, Zalewski, Ahanor, Maldini, Krstovic.
Olympiacos: Tzolakis, Rodinei, Retsos, Pirola, Ortega, Mouzakitis, Dani Garcia, Gelson Martins, Chiquinho, Daniel Podence, El Kaabi.
Subs: Botis, Biancone, Kalogeropoulos, Nascimento, Yaremchuk, Scipioni, Costinha, Strefezza, Hezze, Onyemaechi, Pnevmonidis, Taremi.
Real Madrid: Lunin, Asencio, Tchouameni, Carreras, Alexander-Arnold, Guler, Valverde, Camavinga, Mendy, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe.
Subs: Gonzalez, Navarro, Bellingham, Endrick, Rodrygo, Gonzalo Garcia, Ceballos, Francisco Garcia, Diaz.
Sporting: Rui Silva, Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo, Hjulmand, Simoes, Catamo, Trincao, Quenda, Suarez.
Subs: Virginia, Matheus Reis, Morita, Vagiannidis, Kochorashvili, Alisson Santos, Ribeiro, Ramos, Flavio Goncalves, Blopa, Quaresma, Ricardo Mangas.
Club Brugge: Jackers, Siquet, Ordonez, Mechele, Seys, Stankovic, Nwadike, Forbs, Vanaken, Tzolis, Vermant.
Subs: van den Heuvel, Mignolet, Romero, Tresoldi, Vetlesen, Sandra, Nilsson, Osuji, Spileers, Diakhon, Gomez van Hoogen, Campbell.
PSG v Tottenham Hotspur news
PSG: Chevalier, Zaire Emery, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, Fabian, Barcola, Ndjantou, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Safonov, Lucas Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele, Lee, Hernandez, Mayulu, Mbaye, James.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Gray, Romero, van de Ven, Spence, Sarr, Bergvall, Bentancur, Richarlison, Muani.
Subs: Kinsky, Austin, Danso, Joao Palhinha, Simons, Udogie, Kudus, Odobert, Davies, Scarlett, Thompson, Williams-Barnet.
Tottenham Hotspur make five changes after their 4-1 no-show at Arsenal. Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Pedro Porro, Pape Matar Sarr and Randal Kolo Muani step up; Kevin Danso, Destiny Udogie, Mohammed Kudus, Wilson Odobert and João Palhinha drop to the bench. The on-loan Kolo Muani is starting against his parent club.
Liverpool v PSV team news
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Szoboszlai, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo.
Subs: Woodman, Misciur, Gomez, Endo, Isak, Chiesa, Robertson, Nyoni, Ngumoha.
PSV: Kovar, Dest, Schouten, Gasiorowski, Saleh-Eddine, Man, Junior, Veerman, Perisic, Saibari, Til.
Subs: Olij, Smolenaars, Obispo, Flamingo, Pepi, Wanner, Driouech, Bajraktarevic, Boadu, Sildialli, Fernandez, Nagalo.
Liverpool make two changes to their starting XI in the wake of the embarrassing 3-0 home reverse to Nottingham Forest. Alisson, who returned to the team last Saturday after a period out injured, is missing again, so Giorgi Mamardashvili takes his place. Up front, Hugo Ekitike is preferred to Alexander Isak, who drops to the bench.
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to another evening of living high on the Champions League hog. We have nine games for you, all of which kick off at 8pm GMT unless stated. We’ll concentrate on the bleeding obvious but keep an eye on the cognoscenti’s choice as well. It’s on!
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Internazionale
Copenhagen v Kairat (5.45pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Atalanta
Liverpool v PSV
Olympiacos v Real Madrid
Pafos v Monaco (5.45pm)
PSG v Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting v Club Brugge
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