Key events
Olivier Giroud has a chat:
Definitely a special moment. This kind of warm welcome when I just got off the coach meant a lot to me. We will need to be really compact and try to catch them on the counter-attack. We need to close the gap between our lines, be compact and just try to be efficient up front. I just love the game and as long as my body still allows me a little nit I’m still going really strong. I just want to enjoy every single moment. This one is special and I just want to enjoy it.
Also happening tonight under the watchful eye of Guardian’s crack liveblogging squad: England play Greece in the second leg of their women’s World Cup qualifying play-off with Rob Smyth plugged in here:
While John Brewin is watching Atletico Madrid’s home game against Manchester United in the Champions League here:
The teams!
The teams have been named and here indeed are those names that have been named, with Arsenal making five changes and bringing 18-year-olds Malik Hashi and Ceadach O’Neill onto the bench, while Lille’s bench is where Olivier Giroud has ended up:
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Konsa, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Guimaraes, Rice, Merino, Eze, Madueke, Kyokeres. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Meslier, White, Calafiori, Mosquera, Salmon, Odegaard, Hashi, Saka, Dowman, Havertz, O’Neill.
Lille: Ozer; Goffi, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Perraud; Mukau, Bentaleb, Andre; Bakwa, Ueda, Heraldsson. Subs: Gill, Sajous, Srdanović, Giroud, Sahraoui, Kjærgaard, Başar Önal, Nianzou, Verdonk, Cossier, Perrin, Diaoune.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
Preamble
Hello world! Tonight we witness history being made. Lille have played 71 games in the Champions League and Arsenal 241, but this is the first time they have played each other. OK, it’s not the kind of history we’re likely to be telling our grandchildren about many years hence, but history it remains.
This meeting is particularly fortunate for Olivier Giroud – he called it “a blessing” when he spoke to the media yesterday – who returns to his former club for the first time since he left to join Chelsea in 2020, after six years, 180 games and 73 goals, having turned 40 a fortnight ago. “I had to leave in order to play at the 2018 World Cup,” he said yesterday. “I was really sad when I left the club but I had to make that choice, and it was one of the toughest ones in my career, but it was important and necessary for the rest of my career.” It also seems quite fortunate for Arsenal – Lille may be second in Ligue 1 with a record uncannily similar to Arsenal’s in the Premier League (same number games, same goal difference, Arsenal have one more win and one draw fewer) but they have lost 10 of their last 12 games against English teams, and all of their last seven in the Champions League.
Arsenal are without Piero Hincapié and Martín Zubimendi, both of whom they managed to injure themselves during a post-match training session after they beat Leeds on Saturday. To lose one might be regarded as a misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness. Here’s something from Ed Aarons on that and other news:
