Key events
“Barcelona v Antwerp,” says Charles Antaki. “Oh well. In the old days, you rubbed your hands at this one and settled down to an evening’s entertainment of the Harlem Globetrotters versus Willing Stooges variety. Not really possible now, for all sorts of all-too-familiar reasons, none of which are good. Also Robert Lewandowski. He fits my image of Golden Age Barça just about as well as the Big Lebowski does; but not as amusingly.”
15 min: Man City 0-0 Red Star Rodri makes room to hit a rising drive from 16 yards that is beaten round the post by Omri Glazer. It was straight at him, in truth, though he decided to make an action shot out of it.
GOAL! Shakhtar 1-2 FC Porto (Galeno 15)
Shakhtar were level for seconds. Galeno has got his second of the night; he intercepted a lamentable square pass Danylo Sikan on the edge of the area and finished emphatically.
GOAL! Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1 FC Porto (Kelsy 13)
An equaliser for Shakhtar. Kevin Kelsy, the teenager striker from Venezuela, steered a good header back across goal from Yukhym Konoplia’s chipped cross.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Antwerp (Joao Felix 11)
That’s a lovely goal from Barcelona: rat-a-tat football in midfield, with Gundogan to the fore, and then a crisp near-post finish from Joao Felix.
10 min: Man City 0-0 Red Star A City goal feels like a matter of time, probably because it is. Phil Foden has just hooked an acrobatic volley well wide from Nunes’s nice chip.
“Having to watch and report on eight games simultaneously seems inhuman…” says Jeff Sax. “Something for AI maybe.”
What makes you think I’m not?
GOAL! Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 FC Porto (Galeno 8)
The first goal of the evening games has been scored in Hamburg. Andre Franco’s low shot forced a diving save from Dmytro Riznyk, but he pushed the ball out rather than away and Galeno had an open goal.
3 min: Man City 0-0 Red Star Matheus Nunes has missed a presentable chance on his full debut, heading a corner over the bar from close range.
PSG 0-0 Dortmund It took 191 seconds for the first foul on Kylian Mbappe. Julian Brandt was the man with the golden studs.
Peep peep! The 8pm games are under way, and these are the latest scores.
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
I think the anthem was booed, though it’s not easy to tell when you’re watching eight screens at once.
Man City v Red Star Belgrade Mike Summerbee leads the teams out, Champions League trophy in hand. It’ll be interesting to see whether the City fans boo the anthem tonight.
Full time: AC Milan 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle were outplayed in Milan, but they defended doggedly and Nick Pope was an oasis of calm. Sean Longstaff almost nicked it in injury time with Newcastle’s first shot on target all night. Even so, that’s a pretty good result on their return to the Champions League.
McAlmont and Butler will answer this one
It would have been the scoop of the year had he said the opposite
Full time: Young Boys 1-3 RB Leipzig
As expected, Leipzig were too good for Young Boys. With Manchester City also in Group G, there isn’t an overload of jeopardy.
GOAL! Young Boys 1-3 RB Leipzig (Sesko 90+2) The exciting young striker Benjamin Sesko has sealed victory for Leipzig.
Milan 0-0 Newcastle Eight minutes to go at San Siro, where Newcastle are hanging on to a point in their first Champions League game since the days of Junior Senior and Maid in Manhattan.
This time next year, Rodney…
GOAL! Young Boys 1-2 Leipzig (X Schlager 74)
Xaver Schlager has put Leipzig, who will expect to finish second in Group G, ahead in Switzerland. Red Star and Manchester City are the other teams in taht group.
Manchester City v Red Star Belgrade team news
Matheus Nunes makes his full City debut, one of three changes from the win at West Ham on Saturday. Sergio Gomez and Nathan Ake also come in; Jeremy Doku, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol have kindly given up their seats.
Manchester City (possible 4-2-3-1) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Gomez; Rodri, Nunes; Bernardo, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Carson, Phillips, Doku, Gvardiola, Akanji, Bobb, Lewis.
Red Star Belgrade (possible 4-2-3-1) O Glazer; Mijailovic, Djiga, Dragovic, Rodic; Hwang, Stamenic; Bukari, Ivanic, S Mitrovic; Ndiaye.
Subs: Popovic, Vasiljevic, Degenek, Spajic, Kanga, Katai, Olayinka, Krasso, Milunovic, Kangwa, Lucic, Kabic.
Referee Joao Pedro Silva Pinheiro (Portugal)
Shakhtar Donetsk v FC Porto team news
Shakhtar Donetsk (possible 4-3-3) Riznyk; Konoplya, Lemkin, Rakitskiy, Miroshi; Nazaryna, Stepanenko, Sudakov; Zubkov, Sikan, Kelsy.
Subs: Rudko, Castillo, Eguinaldo, Kryskiv, Puzankov, Gocholeishvili, Azarovi, Vyunnyk, Bondarenko, Ocheretko, Kozik, Kashchuk.
FC Porto (possible 4-3-3) Costa; Joao Mario, Carmo, Kleper Pepe, Sanusi; Varela, Franco, Stephen Eustaquio; Jaime, Taremi, Galeno.
Subs: Fabio Cardoso, Grujic, Francisco Conceicao, Claudio Ramos, Sanchez, Gonzalez, Wendell, Navarro, Baro, Martinez, Borges.
Referee Davide Massa (Italy)
Feyenoord v Celtic team news
Three changes for Celtic from the victory over Dundee at the weekend. Luis Palma, Reo Hata and Gustaf Lagerbielke replace the injured Nat Phillips and the uninjured David Turnbull and Yang Hyun-jun.
Feyenoord (possible 4-2-3-1) Wellenreuther; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Hartman; Wieffer, Stengs; Timber, Igor Paixao, Minteh; Ivanusec.
Subs: Beelen, Zerrouki, Jahanbakhsh, Dilrosun, Lopez, Van den Belt, Sauer, Lamprou, Lingr, van Sas.
Celtic (possible 4-3-3) Hart, A Johnston, Lagerbielke, Scales, Taylor; O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Palma, Furuhashi, Maeda.
Subs: Yang, Turnbull, Holm, Oh, Iwata, Bernardo, Bain, Forrest, Ralston, M Johnston, Morrison.
Referee Irfan Peljto (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Lazio v Atletico Madrid team news
Lazio (possible 4-3-3) Provedel, Marusic, Patric Gil, Romagnoli, Pellegrini, Kamada, Vecino, Luis Alberto, Felipe Anderson, Immobile, Zaccagni.
Subs: Guendouzi, Pedro, Casale, Isaksen, Castellanos, Hysaj, Lazzari, Cataldi, Sepe, Gila, Rovella, Renzetti.
Atletico Madrid (possible 5-3-2) Oblak, Molina, Lino, Savic, Witsel, Hermoso; Llorente, Barrios, Saul; Griezmann, Morata.
Subs: Grbic, Gimenez, Azpilicueta, Correa, Galan, Riquelme, Kostis, El Jebari, Gomis, Calatrava, Mini.
Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
AC Milan 0-0 Newcastle Still goalless after an hour at San Siro. Milan have had most of the chances, but they haven’t jolly well taken them.
Paris Saint-Germain v Borussia Dortmund team news
Paris Saint-Germain (possible 4-3-3) Donnarumma; Hakimi, Skriniar, Marquinhos, Hernandez; Ugarte, Zaire Emery, Vitinha; Dembele, Kolo Muani, Mbappe.
Subs: Navas, Fabian, Goncalo Ramos, Danilo Pereira, Lee, Mukiele, Carlos Soler, Barcola, Tenas.
Borussia Dortmund (possible 4-3-3) Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Hummels, Schlotterbeck; Brandt, Can, Sabitzer; Wolf, Malen, Adeyemi.
Subs: Bensebaini, Ozcan, Reyna, Nmecha, Haller, Reus, Fullkrug, Moukoko, Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Bynoe-Gittens.
Referee Jesus Gil Manzano (Spain)
Barcelona v Antwerp team news
Barcelona (possible 4-3-3) ter Stegen; Joao Cancelo, Kounde, Christensen, Balde, Gundogan, de Jong, Gavi; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Joao Felix.
Subs: Martinez, Torres, Pena, Alonso, Romeu, Sergi Roberto, Astralaga, Yamal, Casado, Lopez.
Antwerp (possible 4-2-3-1) Butez; Bataille, Alderweireld, Coulibaly, Wijndal; Keita, Vermeeren; Muja, Ekkelenkamp, Balikwisha; Janssen.
Subs: De Laet, Kerk, Yusuf, Ilenikhena, Ejuke, De Wolf, Van Den Bosch,
Valencia, Lammens.
Referee Radu Petrescu (Romania)
Group-by-group preview
Preamble
Hello, good evening and welcome to live coverage of the opening night of the 2023-24 Champions League proper. The holders Manchester City are in action, as are the teams ranked 4th, 9th, 13th, 14th and 16th in the Uefa club coefficients list.
The team ranked 79th, Newcastle, are involved in one of the most interesting games of the night. They are away to AC Milan in one of two early kick-offs; you can follow that with minute-by-minute genius Scott Murray. If you don’t want to know the score, why are you reading a Champions League clockwatch?
Newcastle are in a dog of a group, with PSG meeting Dortmund to come. They play each other tonight in Paris. The other British team in action is Celtic: winners in 1967, now trying to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2007, when they lost a tight tie against the eventual winners AC Milan. Their group is pretty tricky as well. They have Feyenoord tonight, a repeat of the 1970 final, with Lazio and Atletico Madrid to follow.
These are tonight’s matches, all 8pm BST kick-offs unless stated.
Group E
-
Feyenoord v Celtic
-
Lazio v Atletico Madrid
Group F
Group G
Group H
* Paris Saint-Germain, Leipzig, Dortmund, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
