Key events
Leverkusen v Milan team news
56 min: Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague
“I recommend you look up Kairinen’s goal for Sparta Prague,” writes Kári Tulinius. “It’s the type of free kick that isn’t in fashion these days, the ball flew like it was on a VHS tape called 101 Great Free Kicks, hitting the top of the post before flying in, with the goalkeeper an inch from getting a hand to it.”
Dortmund v Celtic team news
Celtic have been walloping allcomers so it’s no surprise they’re unchanged. So are Dortmund, who beat VfL Bochum on Friday night.
Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain team news
Mikel Arteta has named an unchanged team. You can read all about that and the PSG XI with Scott Murray.
Slovan Bratislava v Manchester City team news
Plenty of rotation from Pep, as you’d expect. Stefan Ortega Moreno, John Stones, Phil Foden, Savinho, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku all come into the side. Foden starts for the first time this season in either the Premier League or Champions League.
Slovan Bratislava Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Savvidis, Ignatenko, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.
Substitutes: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Zuberu, Pauschek, Gajdos, Szoke, Metsoko.
Your City line-up 🩵
XI | Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Gundogan (C), Nunes, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland
SUBS | Ederson, Carson, Walker, Dias, Kovacic, Grealish, Bernardo, McAtee#ManCity | #UCL pic.twitter.com/n0f9IDl7th
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 1, 2024
Big Cup is dead, long live Bigger Cup
It’s half-time in the two early games. Abdallah Sima has put Brest ahead at Salzburg – and top of the as-it-stands Champions League table and yes we are milking this – while Stuttgart are level at home to Sparta Prague. Enzo Millot scored for Stuttgart; Kaan Kairinen equalised for Sparta.
Preamble
Good evening one and all. Life moves pretty fast, and by tomorrow night we’ll be a quarter of the way through the new league stage of the Champions League. A quarter! Two-eighths! Before you know it it’ll be 31 May 2025 and Carlo Ancelotti will be eating another celebratory cigar.
Carlo’s men aren’t in action tonight, but there are nine games involving eight former winners of the competition. The most eyecatching contest is between two teams who have never been champions of Europe: Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, who meet at the Emirates Stadium. That match has its own liveblog right here.
There are two meetings of former champions: Borussia Dortmund (1997) v Celtic (1967) and Internazionale (1964, 1965, 2010) at home to Red Star Belgrade (1991).
Manchester City and Barcelona have winnable matches, while AC Milan have a tricky trip to Leverkusen. They were well beaten by Liverpool a fortnight ago and their manager Paulo Fonseca will be conscious that no team has ever qualified from the league stage after losing their first two games.
These are the fixtures, all 8pm BST kick-offs unless otherwise stated.
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Salzburg 0-1 Brest (5.45pm)
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Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague (5.45pm)
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Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain
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Barcelona v Young Boys
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Dortmund v Celtic
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Inter v Red Star
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Leverkusen v Milan
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PSV Eindhoven v Sporting CP
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Slovan Bratislava v Manchester City