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56 min: Arsenal get the ball out wide to Madueke again but he’s unable to jink his way past Adama Boiro, who relieves him of possession.
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54 min: Timber plays a nice ball through the inside left channel for Madueke to chase. His attempt to square it is blocked.
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53 min: Madueke brings a smartish save out of Unai Simon at his near post with a flick off the outside of his left boot under pressure from a defender. Gyokeres was unmarked in the middle, shouting for the pass.
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50 min: Athletic break upfield with Inaki Williams heavily involved in a move which breaks down when Garbiel gets across to force Gorosabel and the ball out of play. The Athletic full-back had embarked on a lung-busting sprint up the pitch.
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48 min: In line with the left edge of the Athletic penalty area, Declan Rice floats the free-kick to the far post. Gyokeres gives his marker Adama Boiro a shove to get him out of the way before leaping to send a header across the face of goal and wide.
Viktor Gyokeres heads wide for Arsenal. Photograph: César Manso/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 19.59 CEST
48 min: Oihan Sancet nudges Garbiel in the back as the Arsenal skipper leaps to clear a high ball and concedes a free-kick.
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47 min: The ball’s played wide to Madueke, who sends a cross straight into the gloves of Simon.
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Second half: Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Arsenal
46 min: Play resumes with Athletic on the ball and no changes in personnel on either side. The ball is played back to Unai Simon, who gets it launched.
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Meanwhile in the Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven are 2-0 down against Union St.Gilloise in today’s other early kick-off. I guess that’s something of a surprise?
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On the League Phase. “It’s not perfect playing 144 matches to eliminate 12 sides, but at least there was more drama towards the final day other than top two in each group,” writes Peter Mumola. “The new table format left most knockout match-ups up for grabs and earning the top eight placement can serve to be useful amid a busy fixture list and domestic cups.
“PSG were even worthier champions knowing they came through as a lower rated seed. And while the Real Madrid v City first round matchup may not repeat for first round drama, it would likely never have happened under the old format.”
I don’t know, Peter, it sounds like recency bias and you clutching at straws to me. As for games between Real Madrid and Manchester City – this season’s will be their 11th meeting in the past six seasons, when far fewer match-ups between sides like that makes them more special. The whole point is that it almost certainly won’t make any difference who wins when they meet in the League Phase of this competition and contests between heavyweights like that should always count for something.
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An email: “Bilbao is a special place, no wonder Unai Simon has such deep feelings about it,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “Deep is the word, the mountains come right down through the city, carving it up and plunging deeper still under the Atlantic waves. Carved out of granite, and capital of the Basques, a people apart, with their own language that bears no relation to any other language, near or far. Much like their team’s footie. As Michel well understands, Arse will have to be rock solid tonight”.
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Half-time: Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Arsenal
It’s all square at the break. It’s been a fairly even game that has been low on both quality and goalscoring opportunities but the pick of the chances fell to Eberechi Eze on the night of his European debut. Shaping to fire a Madueke pull-back into a gaping goal, he failed to notice Andoni Gorosabel sliding in from one side to poke the ball off his toe. It was an excellent bit of defending from the Athletic full-back.
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45+3 min: Athletic win a corner after a Navarro shot is blocked by Declan Rice. Alex Berenguer’s delivery is glanced high over the bar off the head of Oihan Sancet. It’s half-time.
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45+2 min: Madueke is looking lively and cuts inside again but Vivian is quick to hurl himself into his path and win the ball before it cannons off the Arsenal winger and goes out for a goal-kick.
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45 min: Athletic try another long throw but Dani Vivian is no Rory Delap or Dave Challinor and his looping delivery is headed cleared easily by Mosquera at the near post.
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44 min: Alex Berenguer dribbles past Martin Zubimendi and sends a tantalising delivery through the Arsenal six-yard box. Robert Navarro took a gamble and made the wrong darting run before the ball was crossed, passing up a chance to score a tap-in at the far post.
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42 min: Noni Madueke has a shot blocked on the edge of the Athletic penalty area after excellent work by Mikel Merino to pick him out.
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40 min: We approach half-time and as per reader Joe Pearson likening this match to a TV show, suffice to say that on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far it will not be winning any Bafta or Emmy awards.
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38 min: Declan Rice is penalised for a foul on Gorosabel, despite the Athletic full-back appearing to take a dive in a bid to get the Arsenal midfielder, who is already on a yellow card, sent off. Naughty.
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36 min: Noni Madueke is penalised for a shove in the back of Vivian as he tries to chase a Jurrien Timber delivery down the right touchline that looked overhit.
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34 min: Gorosabel is penalised for handball as he tries to take down a pass from deep near the corner flag. After controlling the ball with his foot it bounced up and hit his outstretched hand and the hawk-eyed officials were quick to spot the foul.
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33 min: Gyokeres is still getting patched up and will resume play with a black bandage around his head.
Big Vik gets patched up. Photograph: Miguel Oses/APShare
Updated at 19.28 CEST
31 min: Gabriel and Gyokeres leap to contest the same high ball into the Athletic box and it’s the Brazilian who makes contact with both his intended target and the back of his teammate’s noggin. The ball sails over the bar, while the Swede drops to the floor with claret pouring from a head wound. There’s a break in play while he receives attention.
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30 min: “I couldn’t agree more that there is not much jeopardy in the League Phase,” writes regular reader Joe Pearson. “But with tasty matches like this one, do we really care? In the end, it’s just a TV show, and it might be a good one.”
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28 min: The ever-scurrying Noni Madueke wins a corner for Arsenal, they play it short to work an angle and deliver the ball into the box. Athletic clear but are subsequently forced to concede another corner. Nothing comes of that one either.
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26 min: Gyokeres gets on the end of a cross to the back post but can only send a fairly difficult chance wide.
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25 min: Advancing on goal with the ball at his feet, Gyokeres is forced away from goal by a defender and can only send a weak shot straight at Unai Simon in the Athletic goal.
Viktor Gyokeres gets a shot away for Arsenal. Photograph: Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 19.17 CEST
23 min: Good work from Gabriel allows Madueke to pull the ball back from the byline and tee up Eberechi Eze. The Champions League debutant shapes to pull the trigger but is denied by an important block from Gorosabel. He should have scored.
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20 min: Noni Madueka cuts inside from the right and tries and fails to wriggle in along the byline behind Andoni Gorosabel. The Athletic defender is having none of it and holds the Arsenal winger off.
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Updated at 19.09 CEST
19 min: Athletic free-kick, about 35 yards from the Arsenal goal for a Mikel Merino foul. The ball is floated into the penalty area but drifts straight into the waiting gloves of David Raya.
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17 min: A heavy touch from Declan Rice means he has to lunge to win the ball back. He does exactly that a split-second before anyone in an Athletic shirt can get to it, in a state of affairs that suggests he’s already living on the edge after picking up his early yellow card. Careful now, Declan.
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15 min: There’s not a great deal of interest going on in this match yet but a tip of the hat to Union St Gilloise striker Promise David, who has scored the first goal of this season’s Champions League proper from the penalty spot against PSV Eindhoven.
Promise David puts Union St Gilloise ahead in the Netherlands against PSV. Photograph: Peter Dejong/APShare
Updated at 19.04 CEST
13 min: Alex Berenguer advances with the ball at his feet after Rice loses possession and wins a corner for Athletic. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
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12 min: Athletic hurl a long throw into the Arsenal box, where Cristhian Mosquera heads clear.
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11 min: Viktor Gyokeres runs on to a through ball from Rice and squares it but it’s cleared. The flag goes up for offside but I think the Swede was being played on by Aitor Parades. It doesn’t matter.
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6 min: Athletic force Arsenal into a couple of important blocks before Declan Rice gets booked for a late challenge on Mikel Jauregizar that gives the hosts a free-kick in an excellent position just outside the penalty area. The ball is played a couple of feet sideways to Adama Boiro, whose shot towards goal is not high enough and blocked by one of his teammates. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess he was supposed to get out of the way.
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4 min: A low Gabriel pass from deep is played straight to the feet of Aitor Paraedes and Athletic get their first chance to break forward. Riccardo Califiori is forced to step in and intercept as a low cross is played inside from the right towards Alex Berenguer.
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2 min: There’s some early whistling from the home crowd as Arsenal hog the ball deep in their own half, with David Raya and the defenders in front of him pinging it around at a pace that can be best described as leisurely.
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Athletic Bilbao v Arsenal is go …
1 min: Viktor Gyokeres gets the ball rolling for Arsenal, their players wearing a change strip of blue shirts, white shorts and white socks. Their hosts are in red and white striped shirts, black shorts and black socks.
The Champions League is underway! Photograph: Albert Gea/ReutersShare
Updated at 18.50 CEST
Tonight’s captains: In the absence of Martin Odegaard, Gabriel skippers the Arsenal side, while Inaki Williams wears the armband for Athletic Bilbao. “Unique In The World” reads the banner draped across the front of the top tier of one stand in the stadium known locally as The Cathedral, in what is presumably a nod to the club’s “Basques only” recruitment policy. Of course, Arsenal have a few Basques of their own in Mikel Arteta, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi.
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Updated at 18.45 CEST
Not long now: Both sets of players line up in the tunnel of Estadio de San Mames before being led out by Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas and his team of match officials. The long and winding road to Budapest starts here, with just the 144 Champions League football matches to be played before we even get to first of the knockout stages in February.
ShareDeclan Rice warms up ahead of kick-off. Photograph: Albert Gea/ReutersShare
Champions League jeopardy (or the lack thereof): While there’s no reason tonight’s match shouldn’t be a good one and I appreciate I’m probably supposed to talk it up, the new and “improved” Champions League format means there’s not a great deal at stake at Estadio de San Mames tonight.
When you consider that Paris Saint-Germain drew one and lost three of their first five games last season before going on to win the tournament, both sides here can easily afford to lose without it costing them a second thought. Is that really how things should be in the opening matches of Uefa’s flagship club football tournament?
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Updated at 18.24 CEST
Mikel Arteta: “We were very unlucky”
During his media briefing yesterday, Mikel Arteta reflected on Arsenal’s run to the semi-finals last season and assessed his side’s chances of actually winning the Champions League for the first time. “We were very unlucky in the semi-final [against PSG] not to get through,” he said. “You take a lot of learnings from that. It’s not only what we feel but the expectations that we have created that we can go all the way. We showed a very good level of consistency to reach that.
“We know it’s going to be a really long journey. You have to give yourself the best chance to win the game. We are good enough to compete with any opposition on the day. You have to have two things go your way – you have to have a have a full squad available and have to put the ball in the net when chances come your way.”
Mikel Arteta talks to the assembled press in Bilbao. Photograph: Luis Tejido/EPAShare
Updated at 18.27 CEST
Arsenal’s goalkeeper David Raya was put up for interview in Bilbao and asked if Arsenal’s players are talking about the possibility of winning this season’s Champions League. “We are, we have belief,” he said. “We want to win, we are Arsenal and we play to win, no doubt. That’s what we play football for. It’s a long journey in the Champions League and the Premier League.”
On his Athletic counterpart Unai Simon: “We played against each other in pre-season,” he said. “We haven’t talked too much about it but as a goalkeeper, there is no need to say what I think about him. He is an amazing goalkeeper. He is a guarantee here and in the national team.”
David Raya speaks to the ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate in Bilbao. Photograph: Luis Tejido/EPAShare
Updated at 18.23 CEST
Tonight’s match officials
ShareEberechi Eze will make his Champions League debut at San Mames tonight. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/ReutersShare
Athletic Bilbao v Arsenal line-ups
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Merino, Madueke, Eze, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, Saliba, Hincapie, Martinelli, Norgaard, Trossard, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.
Athletic Bilbao: Unai Simon, Gorosabel, Vivian, Paredes, Adama, Vesga, Jauregizar, Williams, O. Sancet, Navarro, Berenguer.
Subs: M.Santos, Padilla, Guruzeta, Areso, Lekue, Galarreta, Yuri, Unai G, Maroan, Nico Serrano, Regi, Jon De Luis
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The big interview: Unai Simón
Athletic Club’s goalkeeper on hosting Arsenal in the Champions League, the magic of San Mamés and how his mum is a regular on Athletic away trips, even if she can’t bear the stress of watching any of her son’s games. Our man at the Lezama training ground: Sid Lowe.
Unai Simon was in the Spain team that beat England in the final of Euro 2024. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PAShare
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta has said he wants to change Arsenal’s European fortunes and finally lead them to a Champion League title, with their semi-final last season providing the proof they are good enough and the pain that could push them a step further. Sid Lowe reports from Bilbao …
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Arsenal team news
Declan Rice comes into midfield in place of Martin Odegaard in the only change to the line-up that started against Nottingham Forest. As expected, William Saliba starts on the bench, where young Max Dowman is also among the substitutes. Christian Nogaard is also in the Arsenal squad, having missed out on Saturday with a knock.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Merino, Madueke, Eze, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, Saliba, Hincapie, Martinelli, Norgaard, Trossard, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.
Declan Rice comes into Arsenal’s midfield tonight, in place of the injured Martin Odegaard. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PAShare
Updated at 17.46 CEST
Arsenal’s league phase opponents: Athletic Bilbao (a), Olympiakos (h), Atletico Madrid (h), Slavia Prague (a), Bayern Munich (h), Club Brugge (a), Inter (a), Kairat Almaty (h).
Athletic Club’s league phase opponents: Arsenal (h), Borussia Dortmund (a), FK Qarabag (h), Newcastle United (a), Slavia Prague (a), Paris Saint-Germain (h), Atalanta (a), Sporting (h).
Points required: It’s only a guide from a sample size that couldn’t be smaller, but the three lowest ranked teams to qualify for last season’s knockout phase playoffs scraped through with 11 points each from their eight league phase games. A fourth team, Dinamo Zagreb, also got 11 points but missed out on goal difference.
Aston Villa were the lowest ranked of the top eight teams to avoid a playoff and advance straight to the Round of 16. They did so with 16 points.
Aston Villa’s win over Celtic at Villa Park in January sent them through to the Round of 16 of last season’s Champions League. Morgan Rogers bagged a hat-trick as Villa scored four goals in that particular match, a total of four more than they’ve managed in the same number of Premier League so far this season. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/ReutersShare
Early team news
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Ben White and Kai Havertz remain sidelined for Arsenal, while captain Martin Odegaard is also unavailable after the recurrence of his shoulder injury. William Saliba is in the squad after recovering from the ankle injury that kept him out of Saturday’s match but with an an arguably far more important contest to come in the Premier League against Manchester City on Sunday, Arteta may not risk the Frenchman, whose replacement Cristhian Mosquera, proved a more than capable deputy against toothless Forest.
Athletic will have to make do without their left-winger Nico Williams, a recent Arsenal and Barcelona target before he signed an eight-year contract extension with his boyhood club during the summer. Midfielder Benat Predo and central defender Unai Egiluz are also injured.
The Spanish side’s veteran centre-back, Yeray Alvarez, also misses out as he continues a 10-month doping ban after testing positive for an illegal diuretic following his side’s defeat in the Europa League semi-final last season. Yeray’s suspension has been backdated to June and while Uefa accepted that he ingested the banned substance in error through the use of medication, he was found guilty of committing a “non-intentional anti-doping rule violation” and must serve his time.
A testicular cancer survivor, Athletic Bilbao defender Yeray Alvarez is serving a 10-match ban after testing positive for a banned diuretic Uefa accept he ingested unintentionally in a preventative medicine for alopecia. Photograph: Francisco Seco/APShare
Updated at 17.53 CEST
Champions League: Athletic Bilbao v Arsenal
Having gone out in the semi-finals to Paris Saint-Germain, the eventual winners, last season, Arsenal kick off their latest Champions League campaign with a visit to Athletic Bilbao. Managed by Ernesto Valverde, in his third spell in charge of the club he represented 170 times as a player, the Basque club have won their first three games of the La Liga season but suffered their first reverse on Saturday in defeat at home to Alaves. They are competing in the Champions League for the first time since 2014 and for only the third time since Uefa pivoted away the old-style knockout European Cup format in 1992. Ah, those were the days … yells old man at cloud.
Like their hosts, Arsenal have three wins and one defeat behind them on the domestic front and could scarcely have hoped for a more straightforward victory than the one they enjoyed at home to Nottingham Forest three days ago. Apart from losing Martin Odegaard to a shoulder injury, things could scarcely have gone more swimmingly for Mikel Arteta’s side as they built up to tonight’s match at the San Mames Stadium. Kick-off in the first competitive match between these sides is at 5.45pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
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