That’s all from me. What a night, with late drama in the Women’s Champions League, Carabao Cup and men’s Champions League.
Thanks for reading, and for your emails. Until next time!
David Hytner’s match report from the Etihad
Pete Lansley’s match report from Coventry 1-2 Tottenham
Ewan Murray's match report from Celtic Park
Celtic’s Liam Scales, who scored the first goal, faces the cameras.
Arne [Engels]’s got proper quality in his delivery. All I had to do to get good contact [on the header]. I think the format gives us more games, more chances to play at home, more chances to win. The manager [Rodgers] just said congratulations to us. There’s tough games coming up. But we really want to have a go. We are more experienced from previous years.
A huge night for Celtic, to win 5-1 in the Champions League against anyone is a massive achievement. Their next two games are away to Dortmund and Atalanta, so things will get a lot harder. But let the Bhoys celebrate this one first.
“Enjoy the point, Inter,” mutters one of my City-supporting colleagues in Guardian Towers. “I hope it makes you very happy”.
“PSG are oddly reminiscent of a Marcelo Bielsa side, lots of running straight towards goal, many chances created, but everything’s so hurried that nobody has time to take proper aim”, emails Kári Tulinius. “It’s simultaneously fun and frustrating to watch, like a play where the actors perform with verve and energy, but can’t remember all their lines.”
Randal Kolo Muani seems particularly guilty of this. The Frenchman has obvious talent, but doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct. He often wiggles into brilliant positions, only to spurn the chance. Remember he cost PSG €80m from Frankfurt a year ago.
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Full-time scores in the Champions League
Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava
Manchester City 0-0 Internazionale
Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
PSG 1-0 Girona
Full-time in the Carabao Cup: Coventry 1-2 Tottenham
Late, late drama!
GOAL! Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund (Guirassy 90+5 pen)
Harsh on the home side, who concede a late penalty, from which Guirassy dinks a panenka down the middle to humiliate Mignolet.
GOAL! Coventry 1-2 Tottenham (Johnson 90+2)
Carabao Cup: Oh my word! Spurs have won it with the last kick of the game! Coventry have been the better side tonight, but Johnson keeps his cool as he races through, lifting his finish over Wilson. Tottenham are through, and avoid a penalty shootout. Wow.
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GOAL! PSG 1-0 Girona (Nuno Mendes 90)
Heartbreak for the Spanish side, as Nuno Mendes crosses to the near post and Girona’s goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga (formerly of Spurs, Southampton and Fulham) lets the cross through his legs! Absolutely calamitous from the keeper, who has otherwise played well tonight, saving Girona three times this second half. But that is not what he will be remembered for tonight. This may be an own goal, but I think Nuno Mendes’ cross-shot was on target.
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GOAL! Coventry 1-1 Tottenham (Spence 88)
Carabao Cup: Spurs equalise with just two minutes remaining! Spence toe-pokes a finish past Wilson after good work from Kulusevski! We are headed towards a penalty shootout, no extra time, remember.
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GOAL! Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava (Idah 86)
A wonderful assist from Forrest. The Celtic club legend, who has come off the bench, collects a loose ball in midfield and slips a perfect slide-rule pass through to Idah and the former Norwich striker finishes with aplomb.
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GOAL! Club Brugge 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Gittens 86)
Champions League: Gittens’ second goal of the night, and if the first was a little ugly, this was a peach! Formerly known as Bynoe-Gittens (he dropped Bynoe in the summer after discussions with his father), the Englishman stepped past two Brugge defenders with a series of mesmerising stepovers, before lashing an excellent shot into the far corner. That is cruel on Brugge, who were maybe the better side until the hour mark.
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Full-time in the Carabao Cup: Brighton 3-2 Wolves
Fabian Hürzeler’s side hold on for the win!
GOAL! Brighton 3-2 Wolves (Doyle 90+1)
Carabao Cup: Wolves claw one back! They couldn’t, could they? Remember the League Cup games go straight to a penalty shootout if the scores are level at 90 minutes.
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GOAL! Club Brugge 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Gittens 76)
Champions League: A lucky shot against the run of play. Brugge were the dominant side, but can’t prevent Jamie Gittens from giving Dortmund the lead. Emre Can feeds the Englishman on the left side of the box, and Gittens’s shot finds the top corner after taking two cruel deflections. Mignolet had no chance in the Brugge goal.
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GOAL! Brighton 3-1 Wolves (Ferdi Kadioglu 85)
Carabao Cup: A first Brighton goal for the Turkish full-back, who is first to the rebound after Danny Welbeck’s shot is parried by José Sa. Wolves were pushing for an equaliser but that is surely sees the Seagulls into the next round.
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GOAL! Celtic 4-1 Slovan Bratislava (Daizen 70)
Champions League: A goal made and finished in Japan. Celtic’s trio of Asian stars combine: Kyogo drives forward through a gaping hole in Bratislava’s midfield, feeds Hatate, who turns nicely and toe-pokes a pass through to Daizen, who takes a touch and sends an R2 curling finish (one for the Pro Evo heads) into the far corner. After a brief scare for Rodgers and co, that is surely that.
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GOAL! Coventry 1-0 Tottenham (Thomas-Asante 63)
Carabao Cup: That was coming! Coventry break on the counter-attack with pace, Bassette crosses from the left and Spurs’ marking is lacking! Thomas-Asante is completely unmarked and sidefoots easily past Forster. Shocking from Spurs!
Coventry take the lead against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup 🔥😨 pic.twitter.com/XPBX9h2UFl
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 18, 2024
GOAL! Celtic 3-1 Slovan Bratislava (Kevin Wimmer 60)
A goal out of nothing! Kevin Wimmer, formerly of Tottenham and Stoke of course, pops up with a special goal after some scrappy build-up. The ball falls to the big 6ft2in defender, who sensationally curls a shot with the outside of his foot into the top corner. A special goal, and Bratislava’s first ever in the Champions League.
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PSG 0-0 Girona (58 mins)
Champions League: The Paris side have come out in this second half with real momentum, and Girona are hanging on a little. Oriol Romeu, formerly of Chelsea and Southampton and currently on loan from Barcelona, is running around like a madman in front of his defence, closing the spaces. But PSG are getting closer to an opener, with Dembele twice going close.
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GOAL! Celtic 3-0 Slovan Bratislava (Engels 56 pen)
Champions League: Engels, the £11m record signing, sends Takac the wrong way and Celtic are surely home and dry now. What a start to the campaign, albeit against arguably the weakest team in the competition.
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Penalty to Celtic!
Alistair Johnston goes down in the Bratislava area and the home side will have a spot kick to make it 3-0!
GOAL! Celtic 2-0 Slovan Bratislava (Kyogo 47)
Champions League: Kuhn does well down the right, cuts the ball back and Kyogo is there to tap in from close range. What a nightmare start to the second half for Bratislava!
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While we’re on the Women’s Champions League, here are two match reports from the earlier games. Mixed results for two English sides.
Full-time in the Women’s Champions League qualifier: Fiorentina 0-7 Wolfsburg
An absolute rout from the German side, with their veteran superstar Alexandra Popp netting a hat-trick in the first leg. The 33-year-old is still such an elite player.
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Half-time in the Carabao Cup: Coventry 0-0 Tottenham
Coventry are in with a shout of another cup upset, here.
Half-time scores in the Champions League
Celtic 1-0 Slovan Bratislava
Manchester City 0-0 Internazionale
Club Brugge 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
PSG 0-0 Girona
Just one goal across the four games in this competition. Uefa, what have you done?!
Celtic 1-0 Slovan Bratislava (42 mins)
Champions League: Both sides are going for it. One senses that Celtic and Bratislava feel this is the fixture where they can pick up a key early victory in this competition. Obviously Celtic have the advantage, and Kyoto spurned a glorious chance just a moment ago, firing over the bar. Prior to that on the half-hour mark, Weiss turned inside and was unlucky to see his shot blocked.
“It could easily be 3-2 already in Glasgow”, emails Simon McMahon. “I’ll be staggered if there aren’t more goals. Neither defence looks up to much”.
Coventry 0-0 Tottenham (33 mins)
Carabao Cup: A good little spell for the Championship side, who are putting Fraser Forster under extreme pressure from set pieces just before half-time. Udogie and Bencancur are forced into blocks. Nervy times for Spurs.
Half-time: Brighton 2-1 Wolves
Carabao Cup: That’s a huge goal for the visitors, just before the interval. Wolves should come out with more belief in the second half. I went to this fixture in the Premier League last season, and they should have beaten Brighton. A lot has changed since then, of course, but Wolves remain a threat.
GOAL! Brighton 2-1 Wolves (Gonçalo Guedes 44)
Carabao Cup: Wolves pull one back! Gonçalo Guedes with the goal, after Matt Doherty does well to get to the byline and pulls the ball back to the Portuguese on the penalty spot. Guedes sidefoots home into the corner. Game on.
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Full-time in the Women's Champions League qualifier: Anderlecht 1-2 Vålerenga
Big result for the Norwegian side, who came under huge pressure after going down to 10 after the red card for Michaela Dominique Kovacs.
Coventry 0-0 Tottenham
Carabao Cup: A slow start for Spurs. They are utterly dominant in possession (80%), but are yet to have a shot on target. This is a really strong XI from Postecoglou, who will surely be expecting a lot more. Solanke leading the line, with Werner and Brennan Johnson either side. Sarr, Bentancur and Bergvall in midfield.
GOAL! Brighton 2-0 Wolves (Adingra 31)
Carabao Cup: What a player Adingra is, named man-of-the-match in the Afcon final last year and young player of the tournament. The Ivorian cuts inside from the left channel and fires a brilliant shot into the far corner to double Brighton’s lead!
Simon Adingra finds the corner for Brighton! 🔵 pic.twitter.com/5mgNY50xRo
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 18, 2024
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GOAL! Celtic 1-0 Slovan Bratislava (Scales 17)
Champions League: Celtic take the lead, what a precious goal this could be! Engels, the big deadline-day signing, whips in a corner and Scales nips in at the near post, with the centre-back glancing a fierce header into the roof of the net (via a deflection off the goalkeeper). Celtic Park erupts, and the cameras pan to Rod Stewart having it large in the stands. He certainly enjoyed that one.
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Club Brugge 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
Champions League: The Belgian side hit the bar! Brugge work a short-corner routine before five shots fly in on Kobel’s goal, all repelled by blocks. But then the ball falls to Hugo Vetlesen but the Norwegian can only whack the ball against the underside of the bar from six yards out!
Celtic 0-0 Slovan Bratislava
Champions League: A lively start in Scotland with both sides narrowly denied in the opening moments. Celtic’s Daizen Maeda races through on goal but crashes a shot over the bar from an acute angle, before Bratislava’s David Strelec does the very same, with a deflection just sending his shot over Kasper Schmeichel’s bar.
Coventry v Tottenham, the other match in the Carabao Cup tonight, is also underway. It’s goalless after eight minutes.
FT results in the Champions League (early kick-offs)
Bologna 0-0 Shakhtar
Sparta Prague 3-0 RB Salzburg
GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Wolves (Baleba 14)
Carabao Cup: Baleba’s first ever goal for Brighton! What a start to the season the Cameroonian is having, a real talent in that midfield. He lines one up from 25 yards out and curls one past José Sa into the corner! What a strike. It’s worth noting that Baleba didn’t score for his previous club, Lille, so this goal is a rare thing!
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Other scores in the Women’s Champions League qualifiers:
Fiorentina 0-4 Wolfsburg (HT)
Anderlecht 1-2 Vålerenga (70 mins played, Vålerenga’s Michaela Dominique Kovacs has been sent off)
Hammarby 1-2 Benfica (FT)
Juventus 3-1 PSG (FT)
Roma 3-1 Servette (FT)
Osijek 1-4 Twente (FT)
Huge result for Juventus, who finished second in Serie A last season. PSG in real trouble!
Full-time in the Women's Champions League qualifier: Häcken 1-0 Arsenal
Tabby Tindell, an uncapped American forward, scored the first-leg winner with 13 minutes remaining. Despite having just 32% possession and just one shot on target, the Swedish side have a precious lead to take to London for the second leg!
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Full-time in the Women's Champions League qualifier: Paris FC 0-5 Manchester City
Vivianne Miedema opened the scoring for City, following her summer move from Arsenal. Jess Park scored two either side of half-time before further goals from Mary Fowler and Chloe Kelly. City looked incredibly sharp and have surely already booked their passage to the group stage before the second leg.
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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers speaks:
Every team that plays in the Champions League comes with confidence. Bratislava have great experience and individual quality. But for the first game at home, we really want to bring that energy to the stadium and bring the first three points.
Peeeeeeeeeep! We’re underway in the first of our two Carabao Cup ties tonight: Brighton v Wolves. Coventry v Tottenham will kick off at 8pm BST.
A reminder that you can follow Manchester City v Internazionale on our own dedicated liveblog.
Bologna v Shakhtar has been deathly boring, apart from a missed penalty from the visitors’ Heorhiy Sudakov in the first half. It remains goalless, a result that would not be awful for either side.
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The latest from the Women’s Champions League qualifiers. City in particular look in great shape going into the second leg, and PSG now have a huge task on their hands to reach the group stage!
Anderlecht 1-2 Vålerenga (HT)
Paris FC 0-5 Manchester City (81 mins played)
Hammarby 1-2 Benfica (71 mins)
Häcken 0-0 Arsenal (71 mins)
Juventus 3-1 PSG (71 mins)
Roma 3-1 Servette (FT)
Osijek 1-4 Twente (FT)
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Carabao Cup team news
Brighton v Wolves
Brighton: Steele, Hinshelwood, Webster, Igor, Estupinan, Minteh, Moder, Baleba, Adingra, Ferguson, Enciso.
Subs: Verbruggen, Lamptey, Dunk, Welbeck, Mitoma, Kadioglu, Ayari, Wieffer, Veltman.
Wolves: Jose Sa, Doherty, Bueno, Pond, Pedro Lima,Joao Gomes, Doyle, Hwang, Sarabia, Rodrigo Gomes, Goncalo Guedes.
Subs: King, Lemina, Andre Trindade, Larsen, Matheus Cunha, Dawson, Nelson Semedo, Borges, Cundle.
Pleased to see both sides fielding strong sides. Not quite entirely first-choice, but not far off.
Coventry v Tottenham Hotspur
Coventry: Wilson, van Ewijk, Binks, Thomas, Bidwell, Allen, Eccles, Thomas-Asante, Rudoni, Wright, Bassette.
Subs: Collins, Kitching, Overgaard, Andrews, Mason-Clark, Sheaf, Sakamoto,
Simms, Broad.
Tottenham Hotspur: Forster, Gray, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie, Sarr, Bentancur, Bergvall, Odobert, Solanke, Werner.
Subs: Vicario, Spence, Porro, Reguilon, Maddison, Kulusevski, Johnson, Son, Moore.
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GOAL! Sparta Prague 3-0 Red Bull Salzburg (Qazim Laci 58)
Victor Olatunji wins the ball inside the Salzburg area, squares the pass to Qazim Laci, who shows incredible composure to take a touch, fake a shot (which sends two Salzburg defenders and the goalkeeper to the shops) and tuck the ball into an empty net. What an incredible upset we have here.
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Men's Champions League team news
Celtic v Slovan Bratislava
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, Engels, McGregor, Hatate, Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda.
Subs: Trusty, Sinisalo, Palma, Idah, Valle, Yang, McCowan, Nawrocki, Bernardo, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh.
Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Ignatenko, Kucka, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.
Subs: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mak, Zuberu, Gajdos, Vojtko, Szoke, Savvidis, Metsoko.
PSG v Girona
PSG: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Fabian, Dembele, Asensio, Barcola.
Subs: Tenas, Doue, Lee, Muani, Mayulu, Lucas Beraldo, Skriniar, Zague, Neves, Mouquet.
Girona: Gazzaniga, Arnau Martinez, David Lopez, Krejci, Gutierrez, Martin, Romeu, Van de Beek, Tsygankov, Gil Salvatierra, Stuani.
Subs: Pau Lopez, Ruiz, Asprilla, Danjuma, Juanpe, Frances, Blind, Miovski, Solis, Portu.
Club Brugge v Borussia Dortmund
Club Brugge: Mignolet, Seys, Mechele, Ordonez, De Cuyper, Vetlesen, Nwadike, Skov Olsen, Vanaken, Tzolis, Nilsson.
Subs: Jackers, Romero, Jutgla, Vermant, Skoras, Nielsen, Jashari, Sabbe, Talbi.
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Ryerson, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini, Gross, Can, Sabitzer, Brandt, Malen, Adeyemi.
Subs: Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Yan Couto, Anton, Nmecha, Guirassy, Beier, Duranville, Kabar, Bynoe-Gittens, Azhil.
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Some live updates from the Women’s Champions League qualifiers. These are the first of two legs, with the victors of the tie set to advance to the group stage.
Anderlecht v Vålerenga (26 mins gone)
Paris FC 0-2 Manchester City (HT)
Hammarby 1-1 Benfica (HT)
Häcken 0-0 Arsenal (HT)
Juventus 2-1 PSG (HT)
Roma 3-1 Servette (FT)
Osijek 1-4 Twente (FT)
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Half-time scores in the early men’s Champions League games:
Bologna 0-0 Shakhtar
Sparta Prague 2-0 RB Salzburg,
Kaan Kairinen and Victor Olatunji with the goals for Sparta. Remember Bobby Clark (son of Lee, formerly of Liverpool) and Stefan Bajcetic (on loan from Liverpool) are in the Salzburg midfield tonight. Eeeesh.
Preamble
If you want glamour ties, you’ve come to the wrong place. By all means, head over to our Manchester City v Internazionale liveblog, if that’s your sort of thing.
This clockwatch – bridging three different competitions and multiple different kick-off times – will instead bring the latest from a series of genuinely enthralling ties, each more obscure, intriguing and hipster than the last.
Women’s Champions League qualifying
Anderlecht v Vålerenga (6.30pm kick-off, all times BST)
Fiorentina v Wolfsburg (7pm)
Carabao Cup
Brighton v Wolves (7.45pm)
Coventry v Spurs (8pm)
Champions League (all 8pm)
Celtic v Slovan Bratislava
Club Brugge v Borussia Dortmund
PSG v Girona
We will also have the latest from the early kick-offs: Bologna v Shakhtar, Sparta Prague v RB Salzburg.
In the Women’s Champions League qualifying, Anderlecht host Norwegian champions Vålerenga. Wolfsburg – Champions League royalty who reached the final in 2016, 2018 and 2023 and won both the thing in both 2013 and 2014 – travel to Fiorentina, who came through qualifying after finishing third in Serie A last season.
The two Carabao Cup ties throw up an all Premier League clash and a classic banana skin of a tie for Tottenham at last season’s FA Cup semi-finalists Coventry City. Woof.
Some seriously interesting subplots in the men’s Champions League on just the second night of its new incarnation/league phase. There are five tournament debutants in this year’s competition, and two of them feature here (with Bologna having also kicked off against Shakhtar at 5.45pm BST).
Slovan Bratislava have made it through to the group stage at the 12th time of asking, having made it through four qualifying stages. Managed by Vladimir Weiss, his son of the same name also features in the squad. You may remember Weiss Jr from spells at Manchester City, Bolton and … um … Glasgow Rangers. Under the lights at Parkhead, rarely have Celtic had a better opportunity to get off to a winning start.
Borussia Dortmund, last year’s unlucky finalists, start this season’s campaign against Club Brugge. Dortmund added Maximilian Beier, Waldemar Anton, Serhou Guirassy, Pascal Gross, Yan Couto among others, and shipped out a whopping 18 players (including Marco Reus, Youssoufa Moukoko, Sebastién Haller, Mats Hummels and Niclas Füllkrug) and it will be interesting to see how Nuri Sahin moulds his new-look side this year.
Kylian Mbappé-less PSG seem revitalised, perhaps even stronger since the departure of their talisman to Real Madrid. So far this season the French side have played four, won four. Goals scored: 16. Goals against: three. They host Girona, another debutant, and remain a fascinating prospect despite the departures of Artem Dovbyk, Aleix García and Savinho. The Spanish club’s manager, Michel, promised earlier this week that 37-year-old striker Cristhian Stuani that he would give him the captain’s armband against PSG. “Stuani deserves to be in the starting XI. He has been wearing this shirt for many years. He deserves it more than anyone,” Michel told reporters.
That’ll do you, for now. We’ll have some team news shortly!
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