Frank Lampard named in Manchester City’s Champions League squad

Frank Lampard may be on loan from New York City but he now has another chance to mix it with Europe's elite. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Manchester City have named the on-loan Frank Lampard in their 21-man Champions League squad.
City are permitted only 21 names in the A squad rather than the usual 25 as a sanction for breaching Uefa’s financial fair play regulations.
The restrictions also limit City to 16 non-homegrown players, but the departure of Álvaro Negredo to Valencia on Monday spared their manager Manuel Pellegrini a difficult decision.
The Serbian defender Matija Nastasic, strongly linked with a move away prior to Monday’s transfer deadline, is not included in the A squad but will still be able to play matches as he was under 21 at the turn of the year and can be part of the B squad.

City’s A squad

Hart, Caballero, Sagna, Kompany, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Mangala, Clichy, Demichelis, Boyata, Fernando, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Lampard, Silva, Fernandinho, Touré, Dzeko, Agüero, Jovetic.

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Holders Real Madrid draw Liverpool in group stage

Real Madrid CF will play Liverpool FC – a repeat of the 1981 European Cup final – in Group B after the Monaco draw, while Zlatan Ibrahimović will be on familiar ground in Group F.

Holders Real Madrid CF face a reunion with Liverpool FC following the UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco today.

Madrid claimed a tenth European title in Lisbon in May and added the UEFA Super Cup earlier this month. Their bid to become the first team to retain the UEFA Champions League begins in Group B, where FC Basel 1893, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad and Liverpool – who beat the Merengues in the 1981 European Cup final in Paris – form the opposition.

• FULL FIXTURE LIST

2014/15 UEFA Champions League draw
Group A: Club Atlético de Madrid, Juventus, Olympiacos FC, Malmö FF 

Group B: Real Madrid CF, FC Basel 1893, Liverpool FC, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad

Group C: SL Benfica, FC Zenit, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, AS Monaco FC

Group D: Arsenal FC, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray AŞ, RSC Anderlecht

Group E: FC Bayern München, Manchester City FC, PFC CSKA Moskva, AS Roma

Group F: FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, AFC Ajax, APOEL FC

Group G: Chelsea FC, FC Schalke 04, Sporting Clube de Portugal,
NK Maribor

Group H: FC Porto, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Club, FC BATE Borisov

Group stage dates
Matchday one 16–17/09/14
Matchday two 30/09–01/10/14
Matchday three 21–22/10/14
Matchday four 04–05/11/14
Matchday five 25–26/11/14
Matchday six 09–10/12/14
Full calendar

Draw highlights
• Group A is the only section to include four domestic champions; Groups E and F both have three.

• Paris striker Zlatan Ibrahimović has also played for Barcelona (2009/10) and Ajax (2001–04), two of the three sides the French club face in Group F.

• Barcelona overcame Paris on away goals in the 2012/13 quarter-finals.

• Galatasaray beat Arsenal on penalties in the 2000 UEFA Cup final in Copenhagen, becoming the first Turkish team to win a European competition.

• Arsenal and Dortmund are in the same group for the third time in four seasons, while Bayern, Manchester City and CSKA Moskva all met at this stage a year ago.

• Also in last term's group stage, Chelsea defeated Schalke 3-0 home and away while Ajax went down 4-0 in Barcelona but edged the Catalan club 2-1 in Amsterdam.

• Basel beat Ludogorets – one of two group stage debutants, along with Swedish champions Malmö – 6-2 on aggregate in the 2013/14 play-offs.

• Liverpool pipped Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup final in Paris, but were eliminated from the 2002/03 competition by Basel.

• Roma swapped home wins with Bayern in the 2010/11 group stage, the Italian side's most recent UEFA Champions League appearance

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Football transfer rumours: Manchester United to sign Xabi Alonso?

Real Madrid’s Xabi Alonso, left, is the latest player to be linked with the task of filling Manchester United’s midfield void. Photograph: Rex

Have the trampolines ready; the fireworks too. Something big is happening, something glorious, and it’s happening at Liverpool, who are on the verge of replacing Luis Suárez with Mario Balotelli. Yes, it seems that Liverpool have had enough peace and quiet this summer after losing their lovable Uruguayan and are looking to do a loan deal with Milan for Balotelli, who must be itching to get back to these shores after having such a great time at Manchester City. It was all lies, he really did love us, he really did love England, despite always suggesting otherwise. And if the Balotelli deal falls through, Liverpool will turn their attention back to Monaco’s Radamel Falcao.

Chelsea officials have hypnotised Roma officials and are close to duping them into taking Fernando Torres off their hands and sendingMattia Destro to Stamford Bridge in return. The only stumbling block is thought to be whether Torres remembers to take his passport to the airport with him. Meanwhile Monaco are the latest club to show an interest in Petr Cech. Think about it Petr: sun, money, one of the finest stadiums in the world, Dimitar Berbatov.

Samuel Eto’o has turned down a move to Ajax because he wants to go to Everton or Liverpool. He’s not fussy, he just really wants to live on Merseyside as he’s a huge fan of Brookside. Speaking of which, is that show still running?

Newcastle are trying to keep a straight face as they demand £14m forCheikh Tioté, a target for Lokomotiv Moscow.

Manchester United are trying to keep a straight face as they pretend they would really, really, really, really, really like to sign a midfielder. Xabi Alonso is the latest player to be googled by Ed Woodward.

Hull City were commended for their negotiating skills after selling Shane Long to Southampton for £12.5m. Now they want to spend £12m on Blackburn’s Jordan Rhodes, a striker who has never played above the Championship. Figure that one out.

Lukas Podolski will soon be taking selfies in Istanbul, with Arsenal – who are battling Everton for PSG midfielder Clément Chantôme – ready to sell him to Galatasaray.

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Maribor and Celtic both claim upper hand

Tavares, Maribor captain
I'm very satisfied, very happy. We played a home game against Celtic, a big team make no mistake, and it ended 1-1. We had a lot of chances to win, to score the second goal, but 1-1 for the first game was a good result. We have a big opportunity to go through to the group phase.

It was very important to equalise quickly after failing behind – we couldn't give them too much time to settle into the game. We played very well. We played offensively and we tried everything to score a goal. We showed that we have the quality to go through.

Now on to Glasgow. We always play well in the away games, we score away goals. We have a big chance, a big opportunity to score in Glasgow. We'll do everything to win.

Ante Šimundža, Maribor coach

We still are in the tie. In the first half Celtic had more of the game, but in the second half we were better, we created more chances. At the end both teams must be satisfied with the draw.Celtic got into situations in which we didn't want to see them, especially with high balls into the penalty area where they always had four or five tall players. We have to work on those kind of situations before the second leg. I didn't want to make substitutions earlier because Celtic can switch quickly to the counterattack.

Our forwards were not on the ball enough tonight, their goalkeeper was great. We aren't at our most clinical but we are still improving. The 1-1 scoreline gives a slight advantage to Celtic but we are always looking to score a goal, so we have to go to Glasgow to unpick their defence at least once. We are known as a team who score quite a lot of goals away from home.

Anthony Stokes, Celtic forward
I think we created enough chances to possibly go away with a victory but we are happy enough. We are in pole position now going back. We are ahead in the tie and we are going back to Celtic Park where we fancy our chances.

©AFP/Getty Images

Stokes is eager to return to the group stage

I think that's normal [to dip in the second half]. We started the game very brightly, but the home team was always going to have a spell in the game. I thought we were quite compact. We saw out the game well, we didn't give them too many clear-cut chances.

It's not for me to say [if Celtic are favourites to go through]. We are ahead in the tie, like I said. But it is going to be a difficult game. They're a very good technical team. They created some chances tonight, so it'll be difficult going back. But we won't take our eye off the ball. We'll fully focus and give it 100%.

Ronny Daila, Celtic manager
I'm very pleased with the performance tonight. We have seen a well-prepared Celtic team. The players were fantastic for the whole 90 minutes. We created many chances, but at same time we have to be cautious as there is still the second leg in front of us.

I expected Maribor to be like this, they really are a very good team. They were compact, it's really hard to beat them. They play disciplined football and are always dangerous. Maybe Maribor are even more dangerous away than at home. But we have the advantage now with a draw and a goal scored and Maribor are coming to play in front of a full Celtic Park. It's vital we got an away goal.

Our players were better than against Legia a couple of weeks ago. They are more fit now, more confident. Tonight we were closer to winning than Maribor. In the end probably both teams must be satisfied with a draw.

Callum McGregor was very good on the ball, I'm very proud of his performance. I hope he will continue like this in attack and defence. Stefan Johansen was the best defender, he made a fantastic save as you have seen – he is working hard, he is good on the ball, he is a real leader on the pitch.

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Leverkusen edge København in first-leg thriller

FC København 2-3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Roger Schmidt's men came from 2-1 down inside 13 minutes, Son Heung-Min scoring the winning goal at the end of a frantic first half.Bayer 04 Leverkusen are in the box seat to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage after a topsy-turvy 3-2 play-off first-leg victory away to FC København.

Stefan Kiessling struck five times inside an hour as Leverkusen started their season with a 6-0 German cup victory at SV Alemannia Waldalgesheim on Friday, and he continued his rich vein of form with the opener after five minutes. Giulio Donati slipped in Hakan Çalhanoğlu down the right flank and his low cross was expertly diverted inside the far post by Kiessling.

The goal was in keeping with FCK's form at the Parken Stadium – they came into the game with back-to-back league reverses at home – but their response was a stark contrast to their recent disappointments. Remarkably, Ståle Solbakken's men were in front within eight minutes with Mathias Jørgensen central to the turnaround.

Thomas Delaney set a captain's example with a deflected drive that Bernd Leno tipped wide but from Pierre Bengtsson's resulting corner, Jørgensen towered above the visiting defence to plant a header in the far corner. Then a free-kick into the area was helped back across goal by Jørgensen and Daniel Amartey nodded in.

Sebastian Boenisch curled wide before Karim Bellarabi swept in the equaliser from their next opening after a speculative long ball had bounced into his path off the back of Per Nilsson. Roger Schmidt's charges completed a transformation of their own before the break as Çalhanoğlu's through ball found Son Heung-Min and he converted via the far post.

The contest remained wide open after the interval with Stephan Andersen making outstanding saves to deny Çalhanoğlu and Son. The hosts were barely keeping their heads above water from a string of Leverkusen counterattacks with the FCK No1 rushing from his goal to block from Bellarabi as he raced through. Surprisingly no more goals materialised, leaving the Danish team still with a chance of progress.

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Benítez praises Napoli reaction against Athletic

Rafael Benítez praised SSC Napoli's "passion and commitment" against Athletic Club, with Spanish counterpart Ernesto Valverde also upbeat after their 1-1 draw.

It's a difficult game to analyse because we started really well. The first minute we had a few chances but when they scored a goal, we had to react. I thought the reaction of the team was really good. We showed quality, passion and commitment until the end. We had three or four good chances and it could have been even better for us.

For next week we just carry on with the same preparation, preparing the team physically, technically and tactically and also, in this case, to manage the atmosphere and mentality because we know that we have to score. I think they will also try to push forward to score: they cannot go there in front of their fans and just sit down watching the game.

We have good players in attack but we have seen that they are compact, they play narrowly and they press well so I don't see a very open game. I can see with a team like them that they will try to push and to score because the fans will be pushing them anyway. We will try to control and we will try to score because we have to win.

Ernesto Valverde, Athletic coach
Qualification is still in the balance, but this is a good result. We have scored here in Naples, and it means Napoli are obliged to score at San Mamés. We played with huge personality, at times dominating a big team who have a lot of players with plenty of Champions League experience.

It took an amazing goal from the fantastic Gonzalo Higuaín to hold us. The fact that we ended a game well against great champions makes me think that we prepared very well and that Athletic are a great club.

I do not know if we're favourites now; I really don't care. What is important is the result we got here. But it must not change our style of play – we play in Bilbao like it is 0-0.

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Arsenal hold firm to frustrate Beşiktaş

Demba Ba so nearly gave Beşiktaş the most remarkable of starts, chancing his arm straight from kick-off and forcing Wojciech Szczęsny to turn onto the crossbar inside four seconds. The Gunners keeper was in more routine action after nine minutes, parrying a left-footed volley from Ba, who, on his first start for the Istanbul club, had struck a hat-trick against Feyenoord in the third qualifying round.

Summer acquisition Alexis Sánchez then came to the fore, using his pace to threaten on the counterattack and teeing up Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla but neither was able to test Tolga Zengin. Ba finished the opening period as he had started it, but this time shot just wide with only Szczęsny to beat having intercepted Calum Chambers' pass before skipping past Laurent Koscielny.

Demba Ba on 'instinctive' shot

Arsenal's French international centre-back was again turned inside out soon after the break, Olcay Şahan on this occasion the man to create space only to miss the target. Though Cazorla tested Zengin with a low free-kick in the closing quarter, Arsenal were soon on the back foot when Aaron Ramsey was shown a second yellow card.

However, Arsène Wenger's team so nearly took a potentially decisive advantage against the odds in the closing stages, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain curling a shot against the woodwork via Zengin's fingertips. The return leg is in north London next Wednesday.

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Europa League: Late goal boosts hopes of St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright

St Johnstone's injury-time strike gave manager Tommy Wright a glimmer of hope for the second leg of their Europa League third qualifying round against Spartak Trnava next week.

However, the McDiarmid Park boss has warned his squad they will have no chance of progressing if they play as they did in the first half of their 2-1 defeat at home on Thursday evening.

A double from Ivan Schranz had the Slovakians cruising to victory but Wright believes Dave Mackay's 93rd-minute consolation leaves their quest for a play-off spot still in the balance ahead of the return meeting in Trnava.

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright applauds the fans at full-time

Wright, who admitted his side had missed injured striker Stevie May, said: "I hope the late goal gives us hope. It means the tie isn't over, but we've got to do a lot better if we're going to give ourselves a chance.

"We can't play for 15 minutes at the start of the second half and five or 10 minutes at the end and expect to beat teams that are technically very good. We as much played into their hands as they were good because we didn't perform in the first half.

"That was the most disappointing thing. We gave away too much possession in bad areas and our decision-making was poor. It made the first half a long half, it was all too easy.

"We've got a chance. The tie's still alive but we've got to play better. We don't do it very often where we're outworked or outcompeted, but that's what it was. They got a lot of second ball and with the quality they have they hurt us.

"The real St Johnstone have to turn up (next week). If it's like we were in the first half we'll be out of it."

Spartak counterpart Juraj Jarabek was delighted with his team's victory but insists his team are aware the tie is not yet over.

He said: "I think it was a deserved result because we played a very good first half. We got the chances for two goals which we got and I believe there was a third hanging there.

"But St Johnstone are a very good team and they will fight until the last minute, just as they did tonight."

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Europa League qualifying: St Johnstone lose 2-1 at home to Spartak Trnava

Lee Croft and Steven Maclean: Closing down Toth

St Johnstone are facing an early exit from the Europa League at the third qualifying round stage after they were beaten 2-1 by Spartak Trnava at McDiarmid Park.

Two goals from Ivan Schranz either side of half-time left the Scottish Cup winners facing an uphill struggle for next week's second leg in Slovakia.

However, captain Dave Mackay's late goal gave Saints some hope against Spartak who finished third in the Slovakian league last season.

Mackay: Celebrates goal

The Perth side were hit by a massive blow just before kick-off when top striker Stevie May, who scored 27 goals last season, was ruled out with a thigh injury.

Slovakia Under-21 international Schranz tested Alan Mannus with an early effort and from the resulting Jan Vlasko corner, the towering Schranz was denied a second time by the keeper, who managed to tip his header onto the bar.

Spartak opened the scoring on 34 when Marek Janecka slipped the ball to Schranz and the 20-year-old found the net, via the underside of the crossbar, with a powerful shot from 15 yards.

Mannus: Beaten twice

The home side got their first shot on target four minutes after the interval but David Wotherspoon's shot was straight at goalkeeper Dobrivoj Rusov. The attack brought the home crowd to life and Saints carved out another chance six minutes later but Gary Miller could only head wide.

The visitors doubled their advantage when a mistake at the back allowed Schranz (64) to tap in the second from close range after Mannus saved his first effort.

Wotherspoon hit the top of the bar with a powerful late effort before Mackay gave the home side some hope for the next leg when he fired in a low shot in added time.

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Europa League: Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes upbeat despite defeat

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes remains confident his side can progress in the Europa League despite their 2-0 defeat by Real Sociedad in the first leg of their third qualifying round in San Sebastian.

The visitors started the match well and defended valiantly in a goalless first half before Real struck twice after the break.

Midfielder David Zurutuza broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute before substitute Sergio Canales doubled that lead 15 minutes later but McInnes refused to give up on the tie.

"It's been tough against a good team,” he said.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes

"We did well at the start, but then they've dominated completely. We need to learn from what happened tonight.

"Next week we will have to go out and attack, to score a goal. We won't give up.

"Next Thursday we will go out in front of our fans, who today have given us a lot of support, and we hope to give them something to cheer.

"There are 90 minutes left, it will be difficult. It's a challenge and we hope to be stronger and cause Real more problems."

Sociedad boss Jagoba Arrasate admitted he would have preferred to have secured a third goal but was pleased enough with the lead they will take to Scotland.

"It's a good result but seeing how the game went it could've been bigger,” he said.

"We've missed chances, the third goal to increase the advantage, but the feelings are positive.

"There (Pittodrie) we need to do things well and go out to win."

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