Key events
Arsenal v Bayer Leverkusen teams
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Eze, Trossard, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Ranson, Mosquera, Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.
Bayer Leverkusen: Blaswich, Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba, Terrier, Palacios, Garcia, Grimaldo, Maza, Poku, Kofane.
Subs: Omlin, Lomb, Fernandez, Hofmann, Tillman, Schick, Oermann, Tape, Culbreath.
Sporting 1-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg: 1-3). The Norwegian underdogs look a bit sharper in this second half. They’re enjoying more possession – they only had 37 percent of it in the first period – and throwing more men forward. A goal would send Sporting back to square one and surely knock out their stuffing. Sondre Brunstad Fet tries to thread a shot into the bottom left, but Rui Silva is behind it all the way.
Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain teams
Chelsea: Sanchez, Hato, Sarr, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Santos, Palmer, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Merrick, Adarabioyo, Delap, Fofana, Acheampong, Guiu, Estevao, Lavia, Garnacho, Mheuka, Kavuma-McQueen.
Paris Saint-Germain: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Neves, Dembele, Barcola, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Chevalier, Marin, Lucas Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Goncalo Ramos, Doue, Lee, Hernandez, Mayulu, Fernandez, Mbaye.
Sporting 1-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg: 1-3). An early blow in the second half for Sporting. Morten Hjulmand cynically drags back Ole Didrik Blomberg, and goes into the book. That means the Sporting captain would miss the first leg of the quarter final if he and his side complete the comeback.
HALF TIME: Sporting 1-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg: 1-3)
This edition of Clocko begins as the first half in Lisbon finishes … and the comeback is on! Sporting Clube de Portugal have made it a third of the way back towards equality, Gonçalo Inácio flashing in a header from a right-wing corner on 34 minutes. The home side should have already been leading, truth be told, but Francisco Trincão had earlier sent a header over the bar from point-blank range and missed a one-on-one with Bodø/Glimt keeper Nikita Haikin. The Norwegians have come close to scoring on two occasions themselves: Patrick Berg dragged wide, a miserable end to a swashbuckling counter attack, then Odin Bjørtuft saw a header ping off the crossbar, up and down and onto the crossbar again, then away. It’s been open and fun, and the second half should see some nerves jangle, one way or another.
Sporting v Bodø/Glimt teams
Sporting: Rui Silva, Fresneda, Quaresma, Inacio, Araujo, Hjulmand, Morita, Catamo, Trincao, Pedro Goncalves, Suarez.
Subs: Virginia, Callai, Debast, Nuno Santos, Vagiannidis, Faye, Braganca, Simoes, Couto, Nel, Diomande, Flavio Goncalves.
Bodø/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Bjortuft, Gundersen, Bjorkan, Evjen, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Hogh, Hauge.
Subs: Lund, Nielsen, Aleesami, Auckland, Saltnes, Helmersen, Klynge, Riisnaes, Bassi, Maatta, Mikkelsen, Sjong.
Preamble
Arsenal and Chelsea both go into Champions League battle at 8pm GMT this evening. It’s fair to say the former has more chance of making the quarter-finals than the latter, but teams have come back from three goals down in the past – Deportivo La Coruña v Milan in 2004, Roma v Barcelona in 2018, Andy Robertson clipping Lionel Messi around the lug in 2019 – so let’s rule nothing out.
There’s also an early kick-off in the shape of …
… to which the aforementioned three-goal-comeback observation also applies. We’ll get up to speed with that immediately, so let’s not hang about.
