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Another midfielder who made his Chelsea debut at a sillily young age, Billy Gilmour, is in the middle of the Napoli midfield tonight; the King of Naples, Scott McTominay, is still recovering having had an op to resolve an irregular heartbeart. Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, rewards the diligence and impact of Mikel Merino, handing him a start at the base of midfield, and Viktor Gyokeres is also allowed a game having fallen out of favour; Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka start, as they pretty much always do.
At Chelsea, Xabi Alonso has made nine changes, the most notable his granting of a debut to 16-year-old Reggie Watson, son of Ben, formerly of Wigan and scorer of the winning goal in the 2013 FA Cup final.
In Barcelona, by the way, Shaqueel van Persie has come on for Feyenoord, making his European debut. Any idea who his old fella is?
On which point, have you seen Liam van Nistelrooy’s running gait?
Back with the actual football, it’s now Barca 5-1 Feyenoord, goals for Lamine Yamal, Gabriel Jesus – he mustn’t be able to believe his luck getting that move – with Sem Steijn bagging the consolation.
The headline news is that Bradley Barcola starts for Liverpool, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on in this particular contest. Running into space, he’s brilliant, but is he deft enough and a good enough finisher to make a difference against a defence like Atleti’s?
I’m also keen to find out if Diego Simeone can terrify some responsibility into Cristian Romero; how Julian Alvarez manages having aggravated the fans by seeking a move to Barcelona; and f Lee Kang-in can find space. I’d also hoped to get a proper look at Morten Hjulmand in a game like this, but he’s on the bench.
Not bad, eh?
Phew, there’s a lot to digest there, but before we do…
Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Olivera; Gilmour, Lobotka, De Bruyne; Politano, Hojlund, Santos. Subs: Contini, Milinkovic-Savic, Favasuli, Badiashile, Neres, Lucca, Vergara, Beukema, Spinazzola.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie; Rice, Merino; Saka, Odegaard, Eze; Gyokeres. Subs: Kepa, Meslier, Tzolis, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Ngumoha, Wirtz, Barcola; Isak. Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Tsimikas, Munoz, Frimpong, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Chambers, McConnell, Koumas, Danns.
Atlético Madrid (4-4-2): Oblak; Llorente, Pubill, Romero, Hancko; Simeone, Barios, Koke, Baena; Alvarez, Lee. Subs: Musso, Vargas, Mendoza, Cardoso, Looman, David, Grimaldo, Hjulmand, Le Normand, Dominguez, Martinez, Castillo.
PSG (4-3-3): Safonov; Hakmii, Pacho, Zabarnyi, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Dro; Ferran, Dembélé, Akliouche. Subs: Chevalier, Lucas Beraldo, Marquinhos, Kvaratskhelia, Digne, Doue, Hernandez, Godts, Mayulu, Zaire-Emery, Ndjantou, Neves.
Slovan Bratislava (4-4-3): Takac; Cruz, Markovic, Bajric, Blackman; Pokorny, Martinez; Camara, Ibrahim, Barseghyan; Sporar. Subs: Popovic, Kozlovsky, Wimmer, Gajdos, Marcelli, Cerepkai, Yirajang, Mustafic, Maros, Camara, Ihnatenko, Matsuoka.
Chelsea (3-4-3): Penders; Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill; Gusto, Watson, Barco, Chavarria; Estevao, , Welbeck, Gittens. Subs: Martinez, Fofana, Hato, James, Neto, Palmer, Quenda, Rogers, Joao Pedro.
Leeds United (4-2-3-1): Zetterer; Justin, Muharemovic, Bijol, Bard; Ampadu, Longstaff; James, Wilson, Aaronson; Nmecha. Subs: Trafford, Bogle, Gudmundsson, Elevdi, Tanaka, Stach, Okafor, Bahoya, Calvert-Lewin.
Nope, the Feyenoord goal has been chalked off for offside, early in the move.
Right, let’s get the teams in our 8pm games – though Feyenoord have just pulled a goal back.
Ah, Raphinha has scored his second and Barca’s third – Pedri with the classy assist, a ball rolled through the middle exactly where he wants it, enabling him to move it away form the defender. That’s eight goals he’s got so far this season, in five games, and he’s looking like quite the centre-forward.
In our early games, Barcelona are 2-0 up at home to Feyenoord and and Stuttgart lead Viking 3-1.
Sometimes, what a game shows is more important than what a game’s worth, and that might be so for Liverpool tonight. After a dreadful season under Arne Slot, they’ve gone into this with the same holes in the team unaddressed, an entirely new system to learn, and a manager inexperienced at elite level. It is not, therefore, surprising that they’ve made a spotty start to the season.
They do, though, boast a serious array of attacking talent that looked like it was starting to click at the weekend. Problem being, there’s a difference between looking good against Ipswich Town and looking good against even this version of Atlético Madrid, a team specifically constructed to ruin anything pleasant an opponent might attempt.
Nor is that the extent of them. In Julian Álvarez, they’ve an all-purpose forward of wit and technique, while Lee Kang-in is a very smart acquisition; both might fancy a go at Liverpool’s defence. And as such, though Andoni Iraola’s men could wear a defeat tonight, were they to win, it’d tell Europe – and even more importantly, themselves – that they’re not to be messed with.
If that was all we had going on, it’d be plenty, but it’s far from the case. PSG begin their quest for a third consecutive Big Ears against Slovan Bratislava, and we will of course, be updating from Napoli v Arsenal and Sporting v Galatasaray.
And, in the Rumbelows, we’ll be following a grudge match with violent roots, as Leeds visit Chelsea, which is to say we’ve another blinding night of our beloved football in prospect.
