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Into the last 10 minutes of the two early games, and the home sides have both scored two and lead. Sporting equalised at Leipzig in the 75th minute and fell behind again in the 78th:
RB Leipzig 2-1 Sporting
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Brest
Ahead of tonight’s game Mikel Arteta has been talking about the power of music, and Ed Aarons has been hearing him do it:
Music is very much part of our culture. We have music in a lot of different places, and I think music has the capacity to change your mood, to change your energy to a certain place. And I think it happens in all of us. You play a song and immediately you feel different, and we have certain songs that trigger something in our team because they have some history as well with us, and I will use it when we believe it’s the right way to do it. I have a lot, depending on the day, that’s what I’m saying. It’s not about my energy, and sometimes I play a song many, many times. I don’t know, it’s a feeling.
That is something that we’ve done for many years now and it is part of training. We use music as another element of our training sessions to build the energy and change certain purposes that we want in the training session, and I think the players enjoy it. Depending on the day, sometimes certain players pick certain songs – the first song, the first two songs, the last song – it’s the same as in the dressing room really.
Much more here:
The teams for the 8pm kick-offs have now been picked and publicised, and the line-ups are in the first post at the bottom of this page.
The current Champions League league table looks like this:
Welcome to the second and final day of the seventh and penultimate week of Champions League league fixtures. If it looks like Liverpool will be the Champions League league champions – none of today’s teams are capable of overtaking them – they won’t win anything more than top seeding in the next bit for doing so, and meanwhile there are precious spots in the playoff-dodging top eight to play for, and elimination-sidestepping places in the top 24 up for grabs, so that’s exciting.
[It is, to be more truthful, bewildering. I continue to find the new Champions League format completely bonkers. But it indisputably does put two football teams on the same pitch at the same time, which I suppose is the main thing]
Tonight’s Champions League fixtures look like this (8pm kick-off unless stated otherwise, start-of-day league positions in brackets):
Arsenal (5) v Dinamo Zagreb (25)
Arsenal have only conceded two goals so far, though they have managed to convert those two setbacks into a defeat and a (goalless, to be fair) draw. Still, with a trip to 30th-placed Girona next week, they have a place in the knockout stages within their grasp. They also have Riccardo Calafiori and Ethan Nwaneri back from injury, which is a bonus.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice, Sterling, Havertz, Martinelli. Subs: Neto, Setford, Tierney, Partey, Trossard, Merino, Calafiori, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia, Kacurri, Nwaneri.
Dinamo Zagreb: Nevistic, Ristovski, Mmaee, Bernauer, Torrente, Pierre Gabriel, Rog, Ademi, Stojkovic, Kulenovic, Baturina. Subs: Zagorac, Filipovic, Kacavenda, Hoxha, Cordoba, Pjaca, Mbuku, Misic, Bakovic, Cutuk, Pavic, Spikic.
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany).
Celtic (23) v Young Boys (36)
Young Boys are bottom of the table, one of three teams without a point to their names and with a goal difference, after six games, of -19. Celtic travel to Aston Villa next week, and need three points here. “We’ve done ever so well so far but we don’t want to be the nearly team,” said Callum McGregor.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor, Engels, McGregor, Hatate, Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda. Subs: Sinisalo, Bain, Scales, Palma, Idah, Valle, Yang, McCowan, Nawrocki, Bernardo, Ralston, Murray.
Young Boys: Keller, Athekame, Camara, Benito, Hadjam, Males, Niasse, Lakomy, Monteiro, Ugrinic, Ganvoula. Subs: von Ballmoos, Marzino, Zoukrou, Pfeiffer, Itten, Imeri, Colley, Chaiwa, Elia, Virginius, Blum, Lauper.
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway).
Feyenoord (20) v Bayern Munich (12)
If you want guaranteed goals this might be the one for you: Feyenoord have kept one clean sheet since October and none since November. Bayern have only failed to score twice in all competitions this season: once when they started this one at Villa Park and again against Leverkusen in early December, seven games and 24 goals ago.
Feyenoord: Bijlow, Nieuwkoop, Trauner, Hancko, Smal, Stengs, Beelen, Milambo, Hadj Moussa, Gimenez, Igor Paixao. Subs: Wellenreuther, Ka, Ueda, Gonzalez, Bueno, Ivanusec, Carranza, Mitchell, Nadje, Osman.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Davies, Kimmich, Goretzka, Olise, Musiala, Coman, Kane. Subs: Ulreich, Schmitt, Gnabry, Sane, Dier, Guerreiro, Muller, Tel, Stanisic, Pavlovic, Aznou.
Referee: Francois Letexier (France).
Milan (15) v Girona (30)
Milan’s domestic form is patchy, and they lost 2-0 at Juventus on Saturday, but since losing their first two Champions League games they’ve sorted themselves out and now have their future in their own hands. Girona have lost five of their six games in the competition, and their last is at home to Arsenal next Wednesday.
Milan: Maignan, Emerson Royal, Pavlovic, Gabbia, Hernandez, Fofana, Bennacer, Musah, Reijnders, Leao, Morata. Subs: Sportiello, Torriani, Calabria, Pulisic, Okafor, Zeroli, Bartesaghi, Terracciano, Camarda, Abraham.
Girona: Gazzaniga, Frances, David Lopez, Krejci, Blind, Herrera, Romeu, Tsygankov, van de Beek, Gil Salvatierra, Abel Ruiz. Subs: Pau Lopez, Arnau Martinez, Stuani, Asprilla, Danjuma, Juanpe, Solis, Martin, Portu, Clua, Artero.
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany).
Paris St-Germain (26) v Manchester City (24)
City are in the last of the play-off spots currently and still one point ahead of PSG, so whoever loses this one, if indeed either side does, will be in serious danger of calamitous elimination. City end their league campaign next Wednesday at home to Club Brugge, PSG away at Stuttgart. This game has a liveblog all of its own, so if you don’t want to divide your attention you might be better off heading there.
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, Fabian, Lee, Doue, Barcola. Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Kimpembe, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele, Asensio, Hernandez, Mayulu, Zaire Emery, Lucas Beraldo, Zague, Tape.
Man City: Ederson, Matheus Luiz, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Silva, Kovacic, Foden, De Bruyne, Savio, Haaland. Subs: Ortega, Carson, Stones, Grealish, Gundogan, Wright, Alleyne, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
RB Leipzig (34) v Sporting (19) (5.45pm)
Leipzig are absolutely stinking out the Champions League, with not a point to their names and group-stage elimination already guaranteed, but they’re fifth in the Bundesliga and have scored in each of their last six games in all competitions. Sporting have lost their last two European games and need to get back on course.
Real Madrid (22) v Red Bull Salzburg (33)
Salzburg haven’t played a competitive game since 14 December – this is a first competitive fixture for their “new” head coach, Thomas Letsch, who was appointed on 18 December. This feels sub-optimal.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy, Ceballos, Modric, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe. Subs: Lunin, Gonzalez, Alaba, Tchouameni, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Garcia, Diaz, Ramon, Andres.
Red Bull Salzburg: Blaswich, Dedic, Samson Baidoo, Blank, Terzic, Yeo, Capaldo, Bidstrup, Gloukh, Dorgeles, Daghim. Subs: Schlager, Hamzic, Bajcetic, Clark, Diambou, Kawamura, Ratkov, Gourna-Douath, Mellberg, Morgalla, Piatkowski.
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden).
Shakhtar Donetsk (28) v Brest (9) (5.45pm)
Brest are the surprise package of the Champions League and of the six games they’ve played since beating PSV in their last continental outing they’ve won five of them. Shakhtar, fresh from league defeat at Polessya Zhitomir, need to overturn the form book.
Sparta Prague (29) v Internazionale (7)
Sparta have lost their last four Champions League games and now find themselves four points off the play-offs with two games to play, those being against Inter and Bayer Leverkusen. In sport there is always hope, but in this case there’s not much of it. Inter have only conceded one goal in the competition so far but it was enough to lose them their last game at Leverkusen, though they have won seven and lost one of nine in all competitions since then.
Sparta Prague: Vindahl-Jensen, Vitik, Panak, Sorensen, Wiesner, Sadilek, Laci, Kairinen, Rynes, Olatunji, Birmancevic. Subs: Surovcik, Heerkens, Suchomel, Ross Jensen, Danek, Pesek, Haraslin, Krasniqi, Zeleny, Rus, Penxa.
Internazionale: Sommer, Pavard, de Vrij, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Thuram. Subs: Josep Martinez, Calligaris, Zielinski, Arnautovic, Frattesi, Buchanan, Carlos Augusto, Darmian, Zanchetta, Taremi, Re Cecconi.
Referee: Alejandro Hernandez (Spain).
