Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb, Real Madrid v Salzburg, Celtic v Young Boys and more: Champions League – live | Champions League

Before tonight’s game Mikel Arteta has spoken about the power of music and Ed Aarons has heard him do it:

Music is very much a part of our culture. We have music in many different places, and I think music has the capacity to change your mood, to change your energy to a certain place. And I think it happens in all of us. You play a song and immediately you feel different and we have certain songs that trigger something in our team because they also have a history with us and I’ll use it when we think it’s the right one way to do it. I have a lot, depending on the day, that’s what I’m saying. It’s not about my energy and sometimes I play a song many, many times. I don’t know, it’s a feeling.

It’s something we’ve been doing for many years now, and it’s part of the training. We use music as another element in our training sessions to build the energy and change certain objectives that we want with the training and I think the players enjoy it. Depending on the day, some players sometimes choose certain songs – the first song, the first two songs, the last song – it’s the same as in the dressing room.

Much more here:

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The teams for kick-off at 20:00 have now been picked and published and the lineups are in the first post at the bottom of this page.

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The current Champions League the league table looks like this:

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Hello world, have some team news!

Welcome to the second and final day of the seventh and penultimate week of Champions League matches. If it looks like Liverpool will be Champions League champions – none of today’s teams are capable of overtaking them – they will win nothing but top seeding in the next leg to do so, and in the meantime there are precious places in the playoffs -avoid the top eight to play for, and elimination-side jump spots in the top 24 up for grabs, so it’s exciting.

(It is, to be more truthful, confusing. I continue to find the new Champions League format absolutely bonkers. But it undeniably puts two football teams on the same pitch at the same time, which I suppose is the main point)

Tonight’s Champions League fixtures look like this (kick-off 20:00 unless otherwise stated, start-of-the-day league positions in brackets):

Arsenal (5) vs Dinamo Zagreb (25)
Arsenal have only conceded two goals so far, although they have managed to convert those two setbacks into a defeat and a (goalless, to be fair) draw. Still, with a trip to 30th-placed Girona next week, a place in the knockout stages is within reach. They also have Riccardo Calafiori and Ethan Nwaneri back from injury which is a bonus.

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice, Sterling, Havertz, Martinelli. Subs: Neto, Setford, Tierney, Partey, Trossard, Merino, Calafiori, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia, Kacurri, Nwaneri.
Dinamo Zagreb: Nevistic, Ristovski, Mmaee, Bernauer, Torrente, Pierre Gabriel, Rog, Ademi, Stojkovic, Kulenovic, Baturina. Subs: Zagorac, Filipovic, Kacavenda, Hoxha, Cordoba, Pjaca, Mbuku, Misic, Bakovic, Cutuk, Pavic, Spikic.
Judge: Daniel Siebert (Germany).

Celtic (23) v Young Boys (36)
Young Boys are bottom of the table, one of three teams without a point to their name and with a goal difference after six games of -19. Celtic travel to Aston Villa next week and need three points here. “We’ve done ever so well so far but we don’t want to be that almost team,” Callum McGregor said.

Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor, Engels, McGregor, Hatate, Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda. Subs: Sinisalo, Bain, Scales, Palma, Idah, Valle, Yang, McCowan, Nawrocki, Bernardo, Ralston, Murray.
Young boys: Keller, Athekame, Camara, Benito, Hadjam, males, Niasse, Lakomy, Monteiro, Ugrinic, Ganvoula. Subs: von Ballmoos, Marzino, Zoukrou, Pfeiffer, Itten, Imeri, Colley, Chaiwa, Elia, Virginius, Blum, Lauper.
Judge: Rohit Saggi (Norway).

Feyenoord (20) against Bayern Munich (12)
If you want guaranteed goals, this might be for you: Feyenoord have kept a clean sheet since October and none since November. Bayern have only failed to score twice in all competitions this season: once when they started this one at Villa Park and again against Leverkusen at the start of December, seven games and 24 goals ago.

Feyenoord: Bijlow, Nieuwkoop, Trauner, Hancko, Smal, Stengs, Beelen, Milambo, Hadj Moussa, Gimenez, Igor Paixao. Subs: Wellenreuther, Ka, Ueda, Gonzalez, Bueno, Ivanusec, Carranza, Mitchell, Nadje, Osman.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Davies, Kimmich, Goretzka, Olise, Musiala, Coman, Kane. Subs: Ulreich, Schmitt, Gnabry, Sane, Dier, Guerreiro, Muller, Tel, Stanisic, Pavlovic, Aznou.
Judge: Francois Letexier (France).

Milan (15) vs Girona (30)
Milan’s domestic form is in tatters and they lost 2-0 at Juventus on Saturday, but since losing their first two Champions League games they have sorted themselves out and now have their future in their own hands. Girona have lost five of their six games in the competition and their last is at home to Arsenal next Wednesday.

Milan: Maignan, Emerson Royal, Pavlovic, Gabbia, Hernandez, Fofana, Bennacer, Musah, Reijnders, Leao, Morata. Subs: Sportiello, Torriani, Calabria, Pulisic, Okafor, Zeroli, Bartesaghi, Terracciano, Camarda, Abraham.
Girona: Gazzaniga, Frances, David Lopez, Krejci, Blind, Herrera, Romeu, Tsygankov, van de Beek, Gil Salvatierra, Abel Ruiz. Subs: Pau Lopez, Arnau Martinez, Stuani, Asprilla, Danjuma, Juanpe, Solis, Martin, Portu, Clua, Artero.
Judge: Tobias Stieler (Germany).

Paris St-Germain (26) vs Manchester City (24)
City are in the bottom of the play-off places at the moment and still a point ahead of PSG, so whoever loses this one, if either side actually does, will be in serious danger of catastrophic elimination. City finish their league campaign next Wednesday at home to Club Brugge, PSG away in Stuttgart. This game has its own live blog, so if you don’t want to share your attention, it might be better to go there.

PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, Fabian, Lee, Doue, Barcola. Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Kimpembe, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele, Asensio, Hernandez, Mayulu, Zaire Emery, Lucas Beraldo, Zague, Tape.
Man City: Ederson, Matheus Luiz, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Silva, Kovacic, Foden, De Bruyne, Savio, Haaland. Subs: Ortega, Carson, Stones, Grealish, Gundogan, Wright, Alleyne, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee.
Judge: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).

RB Leipzig (34) vs. Sporting (19) (17.45)
Leipzig are absolutely stinking out of the Champions League, with not a point to their name and group stage elimination already guaranteed, but they are fifth in the Bundesliga and have scored in each of their last six games in all competitions. Sporting have lost their last two European matches and need to get back on course.

Real Madrid (22) vs Red Bull Salzburg (33)
Salzburg have not played a competitive game since 14 December – this is the first competitive match for their “new” head coach, Thomas Letsch, who was appointed on 18 December. This feels suboptimal.

Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy, Ceballos, Modric, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe. Subs: Lunin, Gonzalez, Alaba, Tchouameni, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Garcia, Diaz, Ramon, Andres.
Red Bull Salzburg: Blaswich, Dedic, Samson Baidoo, Blank, Terzic, Yeo, Capaldo, Bidstrup, Gloukh, Dorgeles, Daghim. Subs: Schlager, Hamzic, Bajcetic, Clark, Diambou, Kawamura, Ratkov, Gourna-Douath, Mellberg, Morgalla, Piatkowski.
Judge: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden).

Shakhtar Donetsk (28) vs Brest (9) (17.45)
Brest are the surprise package of the Champions League and of the six games they have played since beating PSV in their last continental outing, they have won five of them. Shakhtar, fresh from league defeat to Polessya Zhitomir, need to overturn the form book.

Sparta Prague (29) vs Internazionale (7)
Sparta have lost their last four Champions League games and now find themselves four points off the play-offs with two games to go, against Inter and Bayer Leverkusen. In sports there is always hope, but in this case there is not much of it. Inter have conceded just one goal in the tournament so far, but it was enough to lose them their last game in Leverkusen, although they have won seven and lost one of nine in all competitions since then.

Sparta Prague: Vindahl-Jensen, Vitik, Panak, Sørensen, Wiesner, Sadilek, Laci, Kairinen, Rynes, Olatunji, Birmancevic. Subs: Surovcik, Heerkens, Suchomel, Ross Jensen, Danek, Pesek, Haraslin, Krasniqi, Zeleny, Rus, Penxa.
Internazionale: Sommer, Pavard, de Vrij, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Thuram. Subs: Josep Martinez, Calligaris, Zielinski, Arnautovic, Frattesi, Buchanan, Carlos Augusto, Darmian, Zanchetta, Taremi, Re Cecconi.
Judge: Alejandro Hernandez (Spain).

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