While the Gunners were bested 1-0 by Newcastle United at the weekend, Simone Inzaghi’s side survived a huge scare at home to Venezia in Serie A and share their visitors’ seven-point total in Europe this season.

Match preview

Helplessly watching on for almost two months due to an ankle injury, Martin Odegaard was believed to have had an outside chance of coming back into the Arsenal team for their trip to Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime, but Mikel Arteta was without his captain and chief creator again.

The Norwegian’s absence has not been majorly felt in some matches over the past several weeks, but Arsenal were crying out for a touch of his ingenuity at St James’ Park, where Alexander Isak’s bullet header from Anthony Gordon’s pinpoint delivery made the difference.

With neither Bukayo Saka nor Gabriel Martinelli able to get the better of their inspired full-back opponents in Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, Arsenal put in an incredibly toothless showing that we have not been accustomed to seeing from Arteta’s side, who are now outside the top four in the Premier League table and are seven points behind leaders Liverpool.

Enduring a miserable three-game winless streak in the Premier League, Arsenal have also been rocked by the news that award-winning sporting director Edu is set to leave the club, as Arteta prepares to wave goodbye to one of his closest allies at a time where he needs them more than ever.

However, an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Champions League matchday three moved Arsenal onto seven points from their opening three matches of the 2024-25 edition – a respectable tally that has them ninth in the 36-team table – and the visitors are still yet to concede a single goal in Europe this season.

The same is also true of Arsenal’s hosts Inter, renowned for their defensive mastery under Inzaghi, as the Nerazzurri held 2022-23 final foes Manchester City to a goalless draw in their opening fixture and are now seeking a third successive triumph in the tournament.

A 4-0 demolition of Red Star Belgrade preceded a narrow 1-0 victory over BSC Young Boys on matchday three, where Marcus Thuram was the hero of the hour for the reigning Serie A champions in second-half injury time, but it was almost the opposite for Inzaghi on Sunday.

Leading relegation-threatened Venezia thanks to a Lautaro Martinez header, Inter briefly threw two points down the drain right at the death, but Marin Sverko’s equaliser was disallowed for handball following a VAR review and the Nerazzurri survived by the skin of their teeth.

Thanks to Napoli’s slip-up against Atalanta BC, Inter are now just one point behind Antonio Conte’s leaders in the Serie A table and have now been victorious in seven of their last eight matches across all tournaments, the outlier being a frenetic 4-4 draw with Derby d’Italia Juventus.

Shutting Arsenal out on Wednesday will see Inter keep four Champions League/European Cup clean sheets in a row for the first time ever, but the Italian giants were famously ripped to shreds by Arsene Wenger’s Gunners in a 5-1 Milan mauling during the 2003-04 group stage, albeit after the Gunners had suffered a 3-0 Highbury humbling.

Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Calhanoglu, Darmian; Taremi, Martinez.

Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Havertz, Partey, Merino; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.

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Barcelona said in a medical statement on their Twitter account, “The tests carried out this morning on Ferran Torres have shown that he has a muscle injury in the right hamstring.”

Barcelona’s statement added, “The date of Ferran Torres’ return to training will be determined based on the evolution of his condition.”

According to the newspaper “Mundo Deportivo,” Torres will be out of action for 8 weeks, and will therefore miss the match against Real Madrid on October 26.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has decided to exclude Ferran Torres from the Matador squad during the international break, replacing him with the duo Bryan Gil and Bryan Zaragoza, both 23 years old.

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The match, which ended in a 1-1 draw in La Liga, saw Atletico fans throw projectiles at Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after he celebrated scoring the opening goal.

The referee ordered the players from both teams to leave the pitch in the 68th minute and head to the changing rooms for 10 minutes in order to calm the fans down.

According to the newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”, Atletico Madrid will definitely be punished by a partial closure of the stands at the Civitas Metropolitano stadium.

It continued, “In the worst case, Atletico Madrid could face a fine and a complete closure of its stands.”

Article 15 of the Disciplinary Code states: “When, during a match, there is a disruption of order or a threat to the safety of referees, players or coaches, or material damage, injuries, invasion of the field, display of offensive symbols or chanting, or disruption of the course of the match, the organizing club shall bear responsibility, unless it proves its commitment to its duties and takes the required preventive measures.”

The second paragraph of the article states: “To determine the seriousness of the events, the surrounding circumstances shall be taken into account, such as the occurrence of injuries or the absence of injuries, the assessment of the clear danger that could have arisen, unless it had been avoided thanks to the vigilance of the organizer, the impact of the events on the course of the match, the presence or absence of a precedent, the number of people involved, and, in general, all other factors that the Disciplinary Committee may reasonably estimate, in addition to considering factors such as the negative or negligent attitude of the organizing club or its failure to quickly identify the perpetrators and bring them before the competent authorities.”

The newspaper pointed out that if the derby events are considered serious, especially since the match was stopped, Atletico will be subject to a complete closure of the stadium, for a period ranging from one match to an entire season, with a fine ranging from 6 to 18 thousand euros, according to Article 76.

If the incident is considered a mere serious incident, Atletico will be subject to a partial closure of the stadium for one match according to Article 107, in addition to a fine of up to 6 thousand euros.

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Retired international referee Alfonso Perez Borrull told the story of his first match as a referee for Barcelona, ​​stressing that the Blaugrana stars caused him tension, which led to him having a bad match.

Alfonso said during statements to Radio Marca: “Pep Guardiola told me you will know what Barcelona is, and it was in his team’s match against Real Oviedo, and I had refereed 4 or 5 matches in the first division, and it was going badly for me, from those days when you are new in the first division and face difficulties.”

He added: “It was not my best match, I awarded a penalty kick and showed the red card to Couto, the Barcelona defender, because he thought it would be awarded, so he held the ball with his hand, but I did not award it, and I showed him the second yellow card and sent him off, I said we started the evening well.”

“The big team starts to put a lot of pressure on you, I was refereeing badly because I was nervous because they wanted to get you out of the game, and Rivaldo took a penalty kick that hit the post and it was awarded, I didn’t realize what was happening and I said to Rivaldo at the time: ‘I was going to put it in the corner’.

The retired referee added: “At that time, Pep Guardiola’s personality appeared, who was warming up for the game, and when he passed by me he said to me you will know what Barcelona is, I will never forget that, then I awarded two fouls and showed the yellow card twice and the red card once”.

The referee concluded his statements by saying: “I don’t know if I was doing something wrong, but what I will not allow is to be overwhelmed, and that was the feeling, and the players of the small teams never showed it.”

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AC Milan took the lead after 3 minutes, but the visiting team managed to turn the tables and score a hat-trick to decide the match in their favor, giving the Reds their first three points.

According to the Italian website “Tuttomercatowo”, AC Milan fans demonstrated violent protests before the end of the match against Liverpool.

It explained that starting from the 80th minute, many AC Milan fans left the San Siro stands, while the “Curva Nord” fans decided to stop chanting and remained silent since the 85th minute.

With the final whistle, the atmosphere became more heated, as the fans booed the players in addition to angry chants against them.

AC Milan is preparing for a strong match against its rival Inter, next Sunday, as part of the fifth week of the Italian League.

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Real Madrid’s goals were scored by Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and Endrick in the 46th, 83rd and 90+5th minutes, while Stuttgart’s only goal was scored by Deniz Undav in the 68th minute.

Ancelotti said in statements reported by the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”: “The main headline tonight could be: Real Madrid won the first match in this new Champions League format, and nothing more.”

He added: “We are still looking for the best version of ourselves, and in some moments we performed well.”

He added: “When we scored the goal, the match could have ended, but after the draw we showed the strength needed to win a very important match.”

On Endrick, he commented: “Endrick has great courage. It was a counterattack and he had the audacity to shoot and score.”

He continued: “It was the last ball of the game, and the best option would have been to pass, but he did a great job. I didn’t expect him to do that, but he has this talent. He is very effective.”

He continued: “You have to choose between building the play or playing directly. If we had relied on building the play, we wouldn’t have scored the first goal.”

He added: “There are moments when you need to control and others when you need to play directly because we have very fast strikers.”

Regarding the differences between his current team and last season’s team, he replied: “We won the first match last season against Union Berlin in the last minute, so this is nothing new.”

He stressed: “If there are those who think that we will not struggle to win matches, they are wrong.”

With this victory, Real Madrid collects its first 3 points, occupying fourth place, for the league stage, while Stuttgart comes in 32nd place without points.

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Real Madrid’s goals in the match were scored by Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and Endrick in the 46th, 83rd and (90+5) minutes, while Stuttgart’s only goal was scored by Deniz Undav in the 68th minute.

Mbappe said in statements reported by the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”: “It was a great night as we wanted to start with a win, and it was a difficult match.”

He added: “It is important to win the first matches, the Champions League system has changed, and you must win quickly.”

He added: “The match was difficult because they play well, and we had problems playing and getting the ball out from the back in the first half.”

He continued: “In the second half, we had chances to score, we pressed well, played better and scored.”

Regarding his first goal with Real Madrid in the Champions League, he revealed: “I can do more. I feel better with every game and I know I will score more.”

He continued: “It is negative to say that I only came to win the Champions League. We try to win every game, today we won and we will see what comes next.”

Regarding the young Endrick scoring the third goal, he commented: “He scored his goal and celebrated with the fans. He is an 18-year-old boy, he had one minute and scored his goal. This is great.”

With this victory, Real Madrid collects its first 3 points, occupying fourth place, for the league stage, while Stuttgart is in 32nd place with no points.

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Suarez won the 2011 Copa America with his country’s national team and reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup with Uruguay.

Suarez said: “I think this is the right time, I want to be comfortable when I play my last match (on Friday)” referring to the special times he spent with the Uruguayan national team since 2007.

The current Inter Miami, Liverpool and former Barcelona player will not be able to participate in the upcoming 2026 World Cup.

Suarez tops the list of Uruguay’s all-time top scorers with 69 goals.

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Foden suffered from illness in the early rounds of the current season, as he missed the team’s matches against Ipswich Town and then West Ham in the English Premier League, after playing for 45 minutes in the first match against Chelsea.

Manchester City were not affected by Foden’s absence, as they made a great start to the season, and Guardiola is confident that the best player in the English Premier League season 2024/2023 will be ready as soon as possible.

Foden scored 19 goals and made eight goals in the 2024/2023 season, and scored three goals (hat-tricks) against Brentford and Aston Villa, as City performed perfectly on their way to winning the title. Foden is on England manager Lee Carsley’s squad for the Republic of Ireland and Finland games, but Guardiola is unsure whether he will feature in those games.

Asked how long City fans will have to wait to see Foden play again, Guardiola said: “I hope it won’t be too long, I hope he will be ready after the international break.”

“He played against Chelsea for 45 minutes but he didn’t feel good afterwards. He had scans and he feels better, but he’s not in perfect condition yet.”

“I’d prefer him to have time to recover and be okay, and come back after the international break and be ready for the games.”

City host Brentford in the Premier League on September 14 before hosting Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium in their first Champions League match four days later.

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UEFA decided to make wholesale changes to the format and system of continental tournaments, as 36 teams will participate in the Champions League instead of 32 in the old system.

According to a video clip published by the Champions League account on the X platform, the draw scheduled for August 29, 2024, will be done automatically using a computer, not manually as was customary.

In the league stage (groups in the old system), each team will play 8 matches against 8 different clubs, instead of facing 3 teams home and away.

New format. New draw.#UCLdraw | #UELdraw | #UECLdraw pic.twitter.com/QKTwVPMhQU

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 20, 2024

The 36 teams are scheduled to be divided into 4 pots, according to the UEFA classification, with the exception of the Champions League title holder (Real Madrid), to be placed in first place in the first pot.

After that, two opponents will be selected from each pot (8 opponents in total), and they will play one match against one at home and one match against the other away, noting that they cannot face an opponent from the same country, while they can meet against a maximum of two teams from another country.

The modern draw system will apply to the Europa League, while in the European Conference League, each team will face only 6 opponents, one from each of the 6 pots according to the ranking.

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