Key events
Informative, passionate, entertaining. But enough about me and my prose, that’s also the tagline for Moving the Goalposts, our weekly women’s football newsletter. Here’s the latest edition.
Manchester Unitedwho have been down to 10 players since before half-time, lead 1-0 against Atletico in Madrid. You can follow the last quarter of that game with Yara El-Shaboury.
Team news
Four changes for Arsenal from Sunday’s 1-0 win over Brighton. Lotte Wubben-Moy, Taylor Hinds, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Beth Mead come in for Katie Reid, who is injured, Katie McCabe, Frida Maanum and Caitlin Foord.
Benfica (possible 4-3-3) Pauels; Amado, Gomes, Ucheibe, Lund; Tristao, Cameirao, Gasper; Alves, Diana Silva, Moller.
Subs: Rute Costa, Prat, Joana Silva, Martin-Prieto, Almeida, Carole Costa, Engesvik, Martins, Pauleta, Davidson, Boeckmann, Guedes.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Van Domselaar; Fox, Wubben-Moy, Catley, Hinds; Little, Cooney-Cross; Smith, Caldentey, Mead; Russo.
Subs: Codina, McCabe, Maanum, Kelly, Foord, Pelova, Nighswonger, Blackstenius, Harwood, Liddiard.
Referee Miriam Bockova (Slovakia).
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Benfica v Arsenal in the WCL. Arsenal’s Champions League defence got off to a false start last week with a 2-1 defeat at home to Lyon; and while it’s too early to talk of must-win games, they’ll be keen to get up and running in Lisbon tonight.
It won’t be straightforward against a Benfica side who have won five Portuguese titles in a row. They also started this season’s competition with a 2-1 defeat, in their case away to Juventus. But unlike Arsenal, Benfica don’t have much pedigree in this tournament – at least not yet. Their best run, two seasons ago, ended with a 6-2 aggregate defeat to Lyon in the quarter-finals.
Benfica, and Portuguese football more generally, will want to make a dent in the competition as soon as spossible. Victory over the reigning champions would be a nice place to start.
Kick off 8pm
