Round-up: Brendan Rodgers’s side and the defending champions are both through to the play-off round at least with one more matchweek of fixtures in the league phase
“We will play and then we will see,” Carlo Ancelotti had said, so Real Madrid did their part and by the end of an ultimately easy night, life looked good again. The European champions started this match as the 22nd best team in the continent, somewhere towards the bottom of a table that keeps everyone guessing and supposedly on the edge of a catastrophe, and finished it six places higher and feeling as if they are among the favourites again. If, the coach was keen to stress, they can defend better.
Madrid had been defeated by Lille, Milan and Liverpool, but there was time still and a revival to come and now a 5-1 victory over Red Bull Salzburg in their penultimate game has lifted them back among the seeds for the playoff round. With one game to go, against Brest next week, and the team taking shape, it also leaves them a single point off the top eight. Two goals each from Rodrygo and Vinícius and another for Kylian Mbappé mean Ancelotti’s side still have a small chance of completing the first phase of this new format going straight through to the last 16, although seven teams still stand between them and that target.
It ought to have been over. In previous times it surely would have been. Erling Haaland had tapped in from close range shortly after Jack Grealish, on as a substitute, had broken the deadlock. There were 53 minutes on the clock and Manchester City looked ready to breathe life into their ailing Champions League campaign.
And yet the current edition of Pep Guardiola’s serial Premier League champions have come to lack the old certainties. They are vulnerable to high-tempo flurries from the opposition. The idea for them was to prove they were back, having moved on from that horror run of one win in 13 from the end of October. They had won four of their previous five.
Job done for Mikel Arteta. After the week he has had, the last thing the Arsenal manager would have wanted was another frantic finale to a home fixture. For much of this contest, after Declan Rice had fired the hosts in front after only 72 seconds, it seemed the Gunners may have to go the distance as they huffed and puffed but couldn’t find a second goal to see off a spirited Dinamo Zagreb side managed by their defensive master Fabio Cannavaro.
A collective sigh of relief greeted the second goal from Kai Havertz – his 14th of the season – when it came 20 minutes before the end, as Martin Ødegaard added a third late on to virtually ensure Arsenal will finish in the top eight and avoid the need for a playoff next month. With a warm‑weather training camp in Dubai lined up instead, after their early exit from the FA Cup, it could do Arteta’s weary squad the world of good in the long run.
Alors que Rayan Cherki entretient toujours le flou entre l’équipe de France, l’Algérie et l’Italie, son ancien coéquipier Islam Slimani a conseillé, à sa manière, le milieu offensif de l’Olympique Lyonnais.
Celtic have the ball in the net, but it’s disallowed for offside, Maeda being caught a couple of yards clear. He finished it well, mind.
Arsenal roar into an early lead! And there’s a superb assist from Havertz, who has his back to goal as a left-wing cross reaches him and instead of attempting any fancy nonsense lays back to Rice, who with the benefit of facing in the right direction hammers in at the near post!
Real Valladolid have accused Manchester City of advising their defender Juma Bah to break his contract and not train on Tuesday to force a cheaper move to the Premier League champions, with the Spanish club threatening legal action.
Bah, an 18-year-old centre-back, joined Valladolid in August and became the first Sierra Leonean to play in La Liga. The club say Bah has bought out his youth contract after refusing to sign a senior deal that would have made him more expensive.
Norway may join Sweden in resisting use of technology
Norway is on the verge of abolishing VAR from its domestic league after clubs in the country’s top two divisions recommended formally that it should be discontinued.
The decision by clubs in Norsk Topfotball, which represents the 32 sides in Norway’s Eliteserien and first division, marks the most significant step yet in a fierce debate over VAR’s future in the country. Now Norway is one step from joining Sweden, which has resisted introducing the deeply controversial technology so far, in staging games without its intervention.
It’s raining heavily in Paris. City will feel at home.
For clarity, PSG’s big-money €70m signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, is not cup tied. Napoli are not in any European competitions this season, which might be a factor in why they are currently top of Serie A. However, Kvaratskhelia is ineligible for PSG tonight because he wasn’t registered for the league phase back in September (because he was only bought this month). The Georgian can, however, be registered for the knock-out stage of the Champions League, should PSG make it.
The head coach claimed that his public comments after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by Brighton at Old Trafford were aimed more at his underperformance than his players. He also suggested changing-room criticism of his squad had been an error because he does not usually address them after a game.
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