For years, Thursday night football had disparagingly been referred to as ‘Ladies Night’ in local parlance because European football’s finest competition, the Uefa Champions League, was always played a day earlier or on Tuesdays. That changes this week as part of the reorganisation of the expanded 36 team competition.
Club managers may not voice their opinions about it publicly but they are distraught at the limited recovery time their players get before league encounters each weekend after Thursday night outings.
That will be the last detail on managers Pep Guardiola or Simone Inzaghi’s minds when Premier League champions Manchester City host Serie A winners Inter Milan in a repeat of the competition’s 2023 final which the Cityzens topped 1-0.
Ballon D’Or contender Rodrigo Cascante Hernandez ‘Rodri’ who scored the all important goal 16 months ago, is in contention for his first start of the season after coming off the bench in City’s 2-1 victory over Brentford.
Cameras are to however be primarily focused on top scorer Erling Braut Haaland who has already bludgeoned nine EPL goals in just four outings. Stopping him will take a monumental effort from Inter Milan’s back four led by Alessandro Bastoni and experienced custodian Yann Sommer.
Action gets underway tonight with 1982 European champions Aston Villa making their competition bow away to Young Boys in Berne, Switzerland. Villa Park supremo Unai Emery is a tournament specialist who won the Europa League on four occasions but knows his team must defend better than the shambles they showed despite beating Everton 3-2 on Saturday.
Emery is toying with the idea of pairing top scorer Ollie Watkins with Colombian powerhouse Jhon Duran after the 20-year-old came off the bench to power home a screamer that kept Villa within touching distance of the summit.
The pick of the matches takes place at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium tonight when seven time winners AC Milan host Liverpool who have won the competition on six occasions. Anfield boss Arne Slot wants a response after he watched his side suffer a 0-1 setback at home to Nottingham Forest over the weekend.
Two Italian managers, Vincenzo Italiano and Gian Piero Gasperini, will be hoping to emulate compatriot Carlo Ancelotti who is the most decorated tactician in the competition.
Bologna boss Italiano, who lost consecutive Uefa Conference League finals with Fiorentina is hoping for better luck when his side hosts Shakhtar Donetsk at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara tomorrow whereas Gasperini’s Atalanta welcome Premier League heavyweights to Bergamo on Thursday. Ancelotti’s Real Madrid host Stuttgart at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight.
TODAY
Juventus v PSV Eindhoven,
Young Boys v Aston Villa,
Bayern Munich v Dinamo Zagreb,
AC Milan v Liverpool,
Sporting Lisbon v Lille Metropole
WEDNESDAY
Bologna v Shakhtar Donetsk,
Sparta Prague v Red Bull Salzburg,
Celtic v Slovan Bratislava,
Club Brugge v Borussia Dortmund,
Manchester City v Inter Milan
THURSDAY
Red Star Belgrade v Benfica,
Feyenoord v Bayer Leverkusen,
Atalanta v Arsenal,
Atletico Madrid v RB Leipzig,
Stade Brest v Sturm Graz,
Monaco v Barcelona