Liverpool v Lille, Atlético v Leverkusen, and more: Champions League – live

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Here’s the table AS IT STANDS ahead of kick-off.

OK, here comes Gerry Marsden, which means it’s almost time for kick-off in the 8pm kick-offs. So much on the line tonight across the matches, many a permutation

Final score: Monaco 1-0 Aston Villa

Villa went behind early to Wilfried Singo’s goal and never got going against a very good Monaco team. A last-gasp Jhon Duran overhead wasn’t going to cut it. Villa must beat Celtic next week, while Monaco travel to Inter.

Final score: Atalanta 5-0 Sturm Graz

Atalanta are now 3-0 up on Sturm Graz, and that’s going to put them in a decent position for one of those top-eight positions. Ademola Lookman got the fourth in the 90th minute before Marco Brescianini got another. Sturm’s outside chance of making the top 24 is gone.

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.

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