Key events
Meanwhile, in the other earlier game, Atalanta are leading Sturm Graz 1-0. That will lift them to third, though with plenty of football to be played this match day. Villa are in danger of slipping from the top eight; Monaco could go to ninth. So much to play for. Thank you, Uefa, thank you!
Not going to plan for Villa in the Principality.
Brugge v Juventus teams
Club Brugge: Mignolet, Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper, Nwadike, Jashari, Talbi, Vanaken, Tzolis, Jutgla. Subs: Jackers, Romero, Vetlesen, Meijer, Vermant, Nilsson, Skoras, Nielsen, Siquet, Spileers, Seys.
Juventus: Di Gregorio, Savona, Gatti, Kalulu Kyatengwa, Cambiaso, Locatelli, Douglas Luiz, Weah, Koopmeiners, Mbangula, Gonzalez. Subs: Francisco Conceicao, Vlahovic, Yildiz, McKennie, Adzic, Thuram, Fagioli, Rouhi, Perin, Pinsoglio
Benfica v Barcelona teams
Benfica: Trubin, Araujo, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras, Aursnes, Florentino, Kokcu, Akturkoglu, Pavlidis, Schjelderup. Subs: Soares, Bah, Amdouni, Arthur Cabral, Di Maria, Barreiro, Prestianni, Rollheiser, Beste, Nuno Felix, Bajrami, Rego.
Barcelona: Szczesny, Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde, Casado, Gonzalez, Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha, Lewandowski. Subs: Pena, Kochen, Torres, Fati, Torre, Christensen, Lopez, Victor, de Jong, Garcia, Fort, Gerard.
So, Nunez starts for Liverpool, and Ethan Mbappé, brother of, is on the bench for Lille. “Trent” is benched though that is still a strong team selection from Arne Slot.
Liverpool v Lille teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Bradley, Quansah, van Dijk, Tsimikas, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Jones, Salah, Nunez, Diaz. Subs: Jaros, Kelleher, Endo, Konate, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Gakpo, Elliott, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Danns, Morton.
Lille: Chevalier, Mandi, Diakite, Alexsandro Victor, Gudmundsson, Mukau, Andre, Bakker, Arnar Haraldsson, Cabella, David. Subs: Mannone, Caillard, Gomes, Sahraoui, Meunier, Bayo, Mbappe, Ismaily, Bouaddi, Cossier.
Atletico Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen teams
Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Molina, Gimenez, Lenglet, Galan,
Llorente, De Paul, Barrios, Simeone, Alvarez, Griezmann. Subs: Musso, Gomis, Azpilicueta, Gallagher, Koke, Correa, Lemar, Samuel Dias, Riquelme, Witsel, Mandava, Le Normand.
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie, Mukiele, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo, Frimpong, Wirtz, Tella. Subs: Hradecky, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, Arthur, Schick, Boniface, Garcia, Hawighorst, Stepanov, Onyeka.
Contract rebel FC.
Watch out for those French clubs: Monaco are currently beating Aston Villa, and Lille lie in wait for Liverpool.
Preamble
The seventh of eight weeks, and against many’s predictions, rather a lot to play for. Not only are there play-offs to avoid, or play-offs to seek refuge in, there’s the fact that the group stage also shapes the knockouts by using seeding to reward good group performances. So, plenty on tonight and tomorrow before next week sees 18 (eighteen) ties played at once.
The permutations are complicated but a win against Lille would see Liverpool through to the knockouts, no play-off. Beyond that, even Barcelona, despite kicking off in second against Benfica might have to wait for the final round to know their fate. They need a win and for other results to favour them, including that of Aston Villa in the early game with Monaco.
Bayer Leverkusen away to Atlético Madrid, fourth v 11th could go some way to deciding if either go to the last 16 or straight to the quarter-finals. Should Celtic beat Young Boys, the worst team in the group stage, then the play-offs beckon.
Join me for the 8pm kick-offs and the latest news.
