Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk: Champions League – live | Champions League

27 mins: Arsenal are pushing back for a while. No rush. Trossard then tries to release Martinelli with a diagonal swing on the left. Goal kick across the board.

25 minutes: White cuts Eguinaldo on the ankle. A bit clumsy. However, there is no booking, which is probably fair; It was hardly a game of that nature.

24 mins: The Arsenal fans are yay again. This time it is Calafiori who is encouraged to take a skin from a distance; The defender sends a pea-roller into the grateful arms of Riznyk.

22 mins: Martinelli makes good use of the left side and rolls into the field for Trossard, who hits it wide to the left from the corner of the six-yard box. Arsenal still need to get Riznyk into the Shakhtar goal to make it work.

21 mins: Rice has a grab throw from nearly 30 yards. After shooting in from the left, he turns and pulls a weak shot wide to the left. To be fair, he was just doing what the crowd wanted. “Shoooooooooooot.”

20 minutes: Martinelli and Havertz take turns making initial passes down the inside left channel. Trossard marches into the penalty area and shoots a weak half-volley shot past the goal.

18 minutes: Eguinaldo and Sikan combine again, this time down the right inside channel, and suddenly a header breaks out on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area. The hosts are clear in the end, but this magic has put the Ukrainian fans in a good mood.

16 minutes: Eguinaldo weaves in from the left and exchanges passes with Sikan before firing from the edge of the Arsenal penalty area. His shot deflects over the crossbar and leads to a corner that goes nowhere, but there is a first shot over the Arsenal arch. Shakhtar may be underdogs, but they are not without teeth.

15 minutes: Both teams have a big home game ahead of them. We already know about Arsenal's upcoming game against Liverpool; The Ukrainian champions are visiting league leaders Dynamo Kyiv this weekend.

13 mins: Mykhailo Mudryk, formerly of Shakhtar and now a Chelsea player, sits in the stands and watches his old friends. Somewhere in the multiverse he is on the pitch wearing an Arsenal jersey. It almost happened before fate sent him to Stamford Bridge instead.

11 mins: Jesus elegantly feels his way through the inner right channel and a small space opens in front of him, but Kryskiv is aware of the developing situation and comes over to close it again. Jesus falls over.

10 minutes: That calmed Shakhtar down after a somewhat shaky start. The game is simmering and now it's Arsenal's turn to exercise patience.

8 minutes: Donetsk sorts things out with a little patience, which goes past the back. Arsenal are lulled into a false sense of security. White catches a simple back pass and lets Eguinaldo rush through the inside left channel. Eguinaldo drifts into the infield and has the opportunity to shoot from the edge of the D, but takes too many touches and the chance is soon lost.

6 minutes: Trossard hits and Arsenal should take the lead. The guests fail to clear their lines and the ball falls to Calafiori from eight meters away. He has enough time to get ready, but leans back and shovels over the counter. What an opportunity. You'd expect better from someone who scored such a stunning goal at Manchester City last month.

5 minutes: Trossard plays a sweet back pass down the inside right channel to send Havertz into the box. A corner is deserved. Trossard, filling in for the absent Saka, swings it into the mixer. Kryskiv has to raise an eyebrow about his own bar. Trossard should try again.

4 minutes: A few touches of the ball for Saliba, who might as well give 110 percent tonight. He will not be available against Liverpool at the weekend. Arsenal confirmed today that they will not appeal against his red card against Bournemouth. So enough time to put your old feet up.

2 minutes: Rice swings the corner under the bar. Riznyk punches it away. Trossard defends with some skill on the other side, but his cross is too deep for his teammates in the six-yard box. Still, the hosts got off to a quick start.

1 minute: Martinelli tears down the left side and wins the first corner of the game after 37 seconds. A determined run. Rice comes over to perform in front of 5,000 Ukrainian fans.

Shakhtar gets the ball rolling. A great atmosphere at Emirates.

The teams are outside. Arsenal in their red and white garb, Shakhtar in second choice black with a splash of orange. Once the UEFA marketing departments have given their usual George Frideric Handel number, we're all good to go. “History actually favors Arsenal if you look back long enough,” agrees Charles Antaki, “but if recent history is any guide, then unless Arteta has managed to choke off the supply of stupid pills that do We'll then see a parade of hilariously bad back passes, suicidal tackles and a burst of ball throwing away. Just say no.”

The first two games are over. Milan beat Club Brugge 3-1, while Monaco defeated 1991 champions Red Star Belgrade 5-1. All of this adds up to what the big table looks like when Arsenal, Shakhtar and all the rest kick off at 8pm. (Please ignore the technical error below that keeps repeating Celtic's group stage humiliation from last season, as if last month's 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund wasn't bad enough. There are rumors that our Development team works with Penny Arcade sound from the office stereo in the loop is way off.)

Andriy Shevchenko, Dynamo Kyiv and The Milan legend and current president of the Ukrainian Football Association speaks to Amazon Prime. “Shakhtar represents Ukraine here… we have to thank the soldiers at the front who allow us to play football… good luck to Shakhtar who deserves to take part in this competition… we need to develop football in Ukraine, including among them Circumstances… I.” I know the situation can change every day… but I'm defending my country and my country's rights… grassroots football… women's football… we will go on and fight… Champions League is the biggest competition… Georgiy Sudakov has very good ones Skills… an important player… great potential to become even better… he can play different positions on the pitch… support Ukraine… the war is not over yet… do what you can… at this time you know who your are friends and we would like to thank the British people. ”

Oleksandr Zinchenko is just a substitute for Arsenal tonight. Nonetheless, this obviously remains a big night for the Ukrainian, who failed to break through at Shakhtar as a youngster but hasn't fared too badly since then at Manchester City and Arsenal. He talks to Donald McRae about his career and the difficulty of following the war from abroad.

Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime. “No eye (on the upcoming game against Liverpool)… we had a great game against PSG and we will have another one… we are very excited about it… Saka was not able to complete a session the way we wanted… At the moment I'm not very hopeful (that he will be available for the Liverpool game)… I give my players a perspective… we haven't lost a game in six months… now we have it, let's react… we have options… In midfield and up front we have some good options… we have great understanding for Shakhtar… the difficult situation they are in… we welcome them in the best possible way… when it comes to the game we have to give our best.”

Shakhtar had to move from its hometown of Donetsk in 2014 due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, a fact that coach Marino Pušić points out in an interview with Amazon Prime: “It's hard… facing all these challenges makes you stronger… we don't complain… we are fighters… we came here to play… so let's play football… we had a short time to prepare… eight and a half Hours later on the bus, then we drove here…every game is like an away game…we try to create a home feeling in Lviv, but it is far from a home feeling…we have to make it for ourselves…it has to come from within us come out… We want to show up and compete… whether we're playing against Arsenal or Barcelona… we've got a pretty young squad… we're improving every day… that's the joy of my job… our hotel was completely destroyed… it could have been us .”

Pušić is also asked about his time working with new Liverpool coach Arne Slot at AZ Alkmaar. “We've had great success… he's a great manager… I'm really happy for him and have no doubts… he's ready for anything… his tactical skills and individual approach are excellent.”

This game, as mentioned in the preamble, has already been played twice. Here's what happened in 2010…

…and that's how it went in those sepia-toned days when MBMs were in their infancy and were as rare as a Martin Keown double, so it's a clear match report you get for this game.

Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus return to Arsenal after their 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth. Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling drop to the bench. Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka and Jurriën Timber remain on the injured list. Should Kai Havertz score tonight, he would become the first player ever to score in eight consecutive games at the Emirates.

The teams

preamble