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Key events
Juventus v Pafos team news
Juventus: Di Gregorio, Kalulu Kyatengwa, Kelly, Koopmeiners, McKennie, Locatelli, Miretti, Cambiaso, Zhegrova, Yildiz, David.
Subs: Perin, Scaglia, Bremer, Francisco Conceicao, Adzic, Kostic, Thuram, Openda, Rugani, Joao Mario, Cabal, Rouhi.
Pafos: Michael, Bruno, Luckassen, Luiz, Goldar, Pepe, Sunjic, Correia, Dragomir, Orsic, Anderson Silva.
Subs: Petrou, Pileas, Quina, Bassouamina, Dimata, Jaja, Bruno Langa, Gorter.
Paphos’ club badge – which depicts the classic figure of the Cypriot hero Evagoras Pallikarides, a poet and revolutionary who was active during the anti-colonial 1955–1959 campaign against British rule – also sees them qualify for a place on this list!
It’s a great piece. I had no idea that Bournemouth’s badge is not just a stylistic masterpiece but depicts somebody called Dickie Dowsett, “who played for the club between 1957 and 1962 and apparently scored a brilliant diving header against Aston Villa which is the inspiration for the badge.”
Paphos are making quite the impression in their first ever season in the Champions League proper. A home win over Villarreal and draws against Kairat and Monaco leave the Cypriot side on 25th place on five points, one berth below tonight’s opponents Juventus.
They also have 38-year-old David Luiz – yes, THE David Luiz – and the Brazilian scored a header for the ages in the last round against Monaco to help his new side to a 2-2 draw. Shades of Didier Drogba in the 2012 final in Luiz’s header, his first goal in the Champions League in eight years!
Newcastle United, meanwhile, travel to Germany tonight to play Bayer Leverkusen, who slumped to a 2-0 defeat at lowly Augsburg at the weekend.
Here’s Louise Taylor’s preview on Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade, who returns to his homeland tonight of course.
Club Brugge, meanwhile, sacked manager Nicky Hayen just two days ago – following the weekend’s defeat to St Truiden – and immediately announced his replacement in Ivan Leko from KAA Gent, who only found out that they had lost their Croatian manager when they read it in the media!
The following passage is from Reuters (yesterday):
Club Brugge captain Hans Vanaken said the players had learned of the managerial change after training on Monday. “A surprise for the squad,” he told a press conference on Tuesday. “Nobody expected that. There wasn’t really a reason or anything we thought was a reason. Look, the board has made a decision and it’s up to the players to accept that. We know that in football, tough decisions are made sometimes. Firing a coach is always unpleasant. Secretly, we’re all convinced that things could have got better in the coming months.”
Vanaken played with Leko when he first started out and also worked under him in Leko’s previous spell at Brugge from 2017-19. “Ivan is a completely different personality than Nicky, he has a bit more fire in him,” added Vanaken. “That’s not to say one is better than the other, but in the past, we clicked.”
Oh, and here’s a piece we did on Nicky Haden back in January, before Club Brugge’s trip to Manchester City. I don’t think he will be going back to the Welsh Premier League.
Team news is yet to surface. Here’s what Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had to say before his side’s clash with Club Brugge. Declan Rice is ill, while Leandro Trossard, William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera, Kai Havertz, Max Dowman and Gabriel Magalhães are all sidelined.
And here’s the song that I immediately thought of when I read that headline. A wonderfully 90s tune by Soccer Mommy.
Preamble
Hello world and welcome to this Champions League clockwatch.
As Flight of the Conchords once sang, it’s business time. After today’s matches, there will be just two rounds of matches remaining in the league phase, so time is running out for teams to make the top eight automatic qualification spots or the other places (nine-24) for the play-off round to reach the knockouts.
Yes, many eyes will be on Real Madrid v Manchester City, a blockbuster tie if ever there was one, but the six other 8pm GMT matches have plenty at stake.
Last year, 11 points was enough to reach the play-offs and 16 points enough to make the top eight, so that is a rough guide for what this year’s hopefuls will be trying to achieve. Here is the current table, which is updated with the live ongoing early kick-offs (5.45pm GMT) tonight. Currently the half-time scores are Qarabag 1-1 Ajax and Villarreal 0-1 FC Copenhagen, so those are reflected below as if they are results.
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