Trouble ahead for Mikel Artetawho has to deal with a number of injuries that are difficult to manage in the face of a calendar full of commitments. The fight in the Premier League and the war for one of the top 8 places in the Champions League are wide open, yet the coachArsenal this evening he put his hands in his hair after witnessing the evolution of his knee injury Riccardo Calafiori on the pitch this evening for the third round of the European competition against Shakhtar.
First a brief comment on the 1-0 and the victory achieved: “I am very satisfied with the result. It is always difficult in the Champions League. We should have scored more – he reminded TNT Sports – in the first half and in the second half I felt a bit tired. Playing 60 minutes with 10 men a few days ago is difficult. We left the game a little open, but we worked hard to get the three points.” Then a alarming little comment on the conditions of the former Bologna player: “Ricci (Calafiori, ed.) heard something and wasn’t able to stay. A bit worrying…”, Arteta’s admission.
The results at 9pm
Arsenal-Shakhtar 1-0 (Riznyk 29′ own goal)
Aston Villa-Bologna 2-0 (McGinn 55′, Durán 64′)
Girona-Slovan Bratislava 2-0 (Gutierrez 42′, Juanpe 73′)
Juventus-Stuttgart 0-1 (El Bilal Touré 90′)
Paris Saint-Germain-PSV 1-1 (Lang 34′, Hakimi 55′)
Real Madrid-Borussia Dortmund 5-2 (Malen 30′, Gittens 34′, Rüdiger 60′, Vinícius 62′, L. Vázquez 83′, Vinícius 86′-90’+3′)
Sturm Graz-Sporting 0-2 (Santos 23′, Gyökeres 53′)
Results at 6.45pm
Milan – Brugge 3-1 (Pulisic 34′, Sabbe 51′, Reijnders 61′ – 71′)
Monaco-Stella Rossa 5-1 (Minamino 20′, Ndiaye 27′, Embolo 45’+4′, Singo 54′, Minamino 70′, Akliouche 90’+6)
The updated Champions League standings
1. Aston Villa 9 (goal difference +6)*
2.Monaco 7 (dr +5)*
3. Sporting 7 (dr +4)*
4. Arsenal 7 (dr +3)*
5. Borussia Dortmund 6 (dr +6)*
6. Brest 6 (dr +5)
7. Benfica 6 (dr +5)
8. Bayer Leverkusen 6 (dr +5)
9. Real Madrid 6 (dr +4)*
10. Liverpool 6 (dr +4)
11. Juventus 6 (dr +3)*
12. Manchester City 4 (dr +4)
13. Inter 4 (dr +4)
14. Sparta Prague 4 (dr +3)
15. Atalanta 4 (dr +3)
16. Stuttgart 4 (dr -1)*
17. PSG 4 (dr -1)*
18. Bayern Munich 3 (dr +6)
19. Barcelona 3 (dr +4)
20. Girona 3 (dr 0)*
21. Milan 3 (dr -1)*
22. Lille 3 (dr -1)
23. Celtic 3 (dr -2)
24. Feyenoord 3 (dr -3)
25. Atletico Madrid 3 (dr -3)
26. Brugge 3 (dr -4)*
27. PSV 2 (dr -2)*
28. Bologna 1 (dr -4)*
29. Shakhtar 1 (dr -4)*
30. Dinamo Zagreb 1 (dr -7)
31. Leipzig 0 (dr -2)
32. Sturm Graz 0 (dr -4)*
33. Salzburg 0 (dr -7)
34. Young Boys 0 (dr -8)
35. Red Star 0 (dr -9)*
36. Slovan Bratislava 0 (dr -10)*
*one more game