Teams are gathering in tunnels. In Paris, a very fancy light-and-fire display has begun.
Enzo Maresca says Haaland was left out “just to manage his minutes … and also from the last game he had some small problem. It’s just a mix of different things.”
The Barcelona dressing room certainly has no hors d’oeuvres to be seen, just some small and unpromising plastic containers. PSG are not only top of the table, they also have a top table.
Meanwhile, the Atletico Madrid changing room in Stuttgart features one small table and some bananas.
A peek inside Paris Saint-Germain’s dressing-room and their pre-match snack lineup. Fruit, for sure, but then a variety of finger food. French sides, by law*, must offer an array of hors d’oeuvres.
* Potentially not factual
So Erling Haaland is fit enough only for the Manchester City bench, with Enzo Maresca making eight changes to the team that beat Ipswich on Saturday. The most eye-catching pick is 17-year-old midfielder Floyd Samba, son of former Blackburn and QPR centre-back Christopher.
Teams!
Team news is filtering in, and here are the people who’ve got the Champions League nod:
Liverpool v Villarreal
Liverpool: Alisson, Araujo, Jacquet, van Dijk, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Mac Allister, Ngumoha, Koumas, Gakpo. Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Kerkez, Wirtz, Isak, Barcola, Laffey, Chambers, McConnell, Danns.
Villarreal: Gulacsi, Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Cardona, Saliba, Gueye, Buchanan, Comesana, Moleiro, Mikautadze. Subs: Junior, Costa, Freeman, Diatta, Gerard, Foyth, Akhomach, Macia, Oluwaseyi, Perez, El Jmili, Gaitan Diaz.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
Man City v AEK Athens
Man City: Donnarumma, Lewis, Dias, Khusanov, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernandez, Allan, Cherki, Foden, Floyd Samba. Subs: 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. Subs: Balamotis, Kairinen, Gacinovic, Zubkov, Koita, Mantalos, Vida, Lykogiannis, Vitalis, Zini.
Referee: Willy Delajod (France).
Napoli v Bodo/Glimt
Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Politano, Anguissa, McTominay, Spinazzola, De Bruyne, Lang, Hojlund. Subs: Contini, Milinkovic-Savic, Badiashile, Gilmour, Olivera, Lucca, Giovane, Beukema, Lobotka.
Bodo/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Gundersen, Bjortuft, Bjorkan, Auklend, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Helmersen, Hauge. Subs: Lund, Nielsen, Aleesami, Saltnes, Kitolano, Brynhildsen, Mvuka, Maatta. Referee: Jose Maria Sanchez (Spain).
Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Hernandez, Neves, Vitinha, Fabian, Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia. Subs: Chevalier, Mouak, Lucas Beraldo, Torres, Akliouche, Digne, Godts, Mayulu, Fernandez, Zaire Emery, Ndjantou, Zabarnyi.
Barcelona: Joan Garcia, Joao Cancelo, Cubarsi, Gerard, Espart, Bernal, Gonzalez, Yamal, Olmo, Gordon, Raphinha. Subs: Szczesny, Livakovic, Balde, Farinas, Gavi, Lopez, Gabriel Jesus, Adeyemi, Rodri, de Jong, Abdelkarim, Campos.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England).
Porto v PSV
Porto: Costa, Alberto Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Sanusi, Froholdt, Rosario, Veiga, Pepe, Aghehowa, Pietuszewski. Subs: 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. Subs: Olij, Smolenaars, Obispo, Flamingo, Bro Hansen, Man, Fernandez, Santos, Bouhamdi, Cornecion.
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany).
Roma v Slovan Bratislava
Roma: Gollini, Ghilardi, Balerdi, Hermoso, Molina, de Roon, Pisilli, Wesley, Pellegrini, Mora, Malen. Subs: Vasquez, De Marzi, Rensch, Koulierakis, Cristante, N’Dicka, Castro, Soule, Mancini, Di Nunzio, Lulli.
Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Bajric, Markovic, Cruz, Pokorny, Barseghyan, Ibrahim, Gajdos, Suleiman Camara, Marcelli. Subs: Popovic, Kozlovsky, Wimmer, Hofstadter, Yirajang, Mustafic, Tomanek, Maros, Sahmkou Camara, Martinez, Ignatenko, Matsuoka.
Referee: Sandro Scharer (Switzerland).
Stuttgart v Atletico Madrid
Stuttgart: Seimen, Chabot, Hendriks, Mittelstadt, Vagnoman, Promel, Stiller, Fuhrich, Leweling, El Khannous, Undav. Subs: Bredlow, Funk, Al Dakhil, Demirovic, Jaquez, Karazor, Pejcinovic, Assignon, Nartey, Jeltsch, Sauer.
Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Grimaldo, Simeone, Hjulmand, Barrios, Baena, David, Alvarez. Subs: Musso, Vargas, Mendoza, Johnny, Lee, Sorloth, Lookman, Ortiz, Le Normand, Dominguez, Martinez, Castillo.
Referee: Serdar Gozubuyuk (Netherlands).
Preamble
Hello world! Another busy night lies ahead in Europe and in the English Football League, with much attention destined to be focused on Paris, scene in recent days of violence and looting but host tonight of one of the prestige fixtures of the group stage as the teams sitting first and second in the nascent table after two fixtures, five-time champions Barcelona and double reigning champions Paris Saint Germain, meet at the Parc des Princes.
Manchester City, meanwhile, may be without Erling Haaland for the visit of AEK Athens, who are promising not to go all-out defensive for a trip to a side Marko Nikolic, the Greek side’s Serbian coach, described as “one of the best teams in the world of football”. “We must bring our identity, not change much and be strong on the pitch,” he said. “If you change and go defensive and try only to survive, it will not work. We have to stick to the challenge. We want to do it with our game. We can be a decent opponent for everybody. I have a lot of confidence in our team.” You can get a decent idea of how much any kind of good result would mean to AEK by the scenes of jubilatory bedlam that greeted yesterday’s 1-1 draw in the Uefa Youth League.
Beyond the best two teams in the tournament so far tonight also sees the worst, in the shape of Slovan Bratislava, who visit Roma. Slovan, who last failed to win the Slovakian title in 2018, are currently fourth in their domestic league but their position at the bottom of this table is largely down to them having had the misfortune to come up against PSG, who thumped them 6-1, a goal difference hit from which they are yet to recover.
Champions League (8pm unless otherwise indicated)
Fenerbahce v Slavia Prague (5.45pm)
Liverpool v Villarreal
Manchester City v AEK Athens
Napoli v Bodo/Glimt
Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona
Porto v PSV
Roma v Slovan Bratislava
Sabah v Borussia Dortmund (5.45pm)
Stuttgart v Atletico Madrid
Also! In the Championship (Football League fixtures 7.45pm unless otherwise indicated)
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 Wed
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 (8pm)
Northampton v Tranmere
Rochdale v Grimsby
Rotherham v Newport
Walsall v Oldham
York v Accrington
