After monumental wins for both Tottenham and Arsenal last night, North London is at peace. The Gunners reaffirmed their Champions League favorite status by pulverizing Inter Milan 3-1 at the San Siro, achieving their longest-ever winning streak in this competition with this their seventh on the spin. Thomas Frank did nothing to quell suspicions that there are two Tottenham’s running around this season with a steadying 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund that extended his side’s bewildering 100% clean-sheet record at home in the UCL this season. And in a continuation of Saturday’s Old Trafford nightmare, a very sad Manchester City lost 3-1 to FK Bodø/Glimt, who are 20 places below them in the table, giving Erling Haaland the worst “Welcome Home” party since Michael Bluth’s. 📊

ii. It was a quiet Tuesday for Americans in the Champions League, but that didn’t stop the USMNT’s Haji Wright from getting his second game-winner in a row for top-of-the-table Coventry in the Championship. 🇺🇸

iii. And ICYMI from Monday, feast your eyes on this moment of overhead magic. What. A. Finish. 🤩

iv. If you still have any doubts that it truly is Arsenal’s year after their dismantling of Inter on the road, let Rog and Rory Smith walk you through everything going on with the Gunners in the most recent episode of the MiB pod. You can watch that here. 📺

Cheers,
Tommy Stewart & Max Bonem

PS - Don’t look now, but Real Madrid are starting to resemble a functional football team again… 😅

Inter Milan 1-3 Arsenal 🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

While doubts over whether Viktor Gyökeres has the quality to be Arsenal’s leading man fester, Gabriel Jesus said “hold my beer” and snatched his first UCL goal in two years, 10 minutes in at the San Siro yesterday. Inter struck back a few minutes later with a mini-miracle via a smooth Petar Sučić finish that was only the second goal Mikel Arteta’s side have conceded through the entire competition. But Arsenal’s Brazilian No. 9 was on a mission and soon completed his brace by heading in his side’s 19th goal from a corner this season. As if hearing himself talked about from another room, substitute Gyökeres provided a timely reminder of his finishing ability, finessing from range to secure the win for the first-placed Gunners. Arteta really flexed his muscles by dismantling Serie A’s leaders and last year’s UCL finalists without starting Rice, Gabriel or Ødegaard in a warning shot to the rest of the field that said, “We’re the ones who knock.”

More: Gabriel Jesus hails 'dream night' as Arsenal make history.

Bodø/Glimt 3-1 Manchester City 🇳🇴🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

First, a Manchester derby battering, and now this? Norwegian minnows Bodø/Glimt welcomed Manchester City to their icy kingdom with only one win in their last seven UEFA matches, and responded by delivering the visitors one of their worst defeats of the Pep era. Due to a myriad of injuries at the back, City gave 20-year-old Max Alleyne, who was on loan in the Championship two weeks ago, his first UCL start and his poor defending on the frozen pitch led to Kasper Høgh’s two first-half goals. The Arctic Circle club added a third in the second half, and a strong finish from Rayan Cherki made us wonder if City might have finally thawed out at the 8,000-seat stadium. But instead, Rodri got himself tossed on a second yellow and with him, any chance of the Mancunians mounting a comeback. Looks like next Wednesday's all-games-at-once Champions League bacchanalia just got a lot more interesting for Pep’s seventh-placed side.

More: Bodø/Glimt give City one hell of a Champions League beating.

Tottenham 2-0 Borussia Dortmund 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇩🇪

If there was ever a good time for the Premier League’s most discombobulated club to welcome the second-placed German side to rainy North London, this was it. Dortmund arrived losers of seven of their last eight away games against English teams, and wasted no time in making that eight of nine when Daniel Svensson saw red midway through the first half, with Thomas Frank’s side already up thanks to a close finish from Cristian Romero. Solanke added a second with one of Tuesday’s least-intentional goals in his first start of the season, making it smooth sailing for injury-riddled Spurs, who were forced to play with six teens on the bench. One of those was 17-year-old Jun'ai Byfield, who made his first-team debut while becoming Tottenham’s youngest-ever UCL player in the process. Even more impressive? Frank’s side now sit fourth in the league phase table.

More: 'Good signs' or just buying time? Spurs remain divided on Frank future.

Elsewhere in the Champions League: Real Madrid 6-1 Monaco, Sporting 2-1 PSG, Villarreal 1-2 Ajax, Olympiacos 2-0 Leverkusen, Copenhagen 1-1 Napoli, Kairat 1-4 Club Brugge

Sure, Slavia Praha (or Prague) are already out of this season’s tournament as they welcome Barcelona to the 19,370 capacity Fortuna Arena today, but you should still become familiar with one of Europe’s oldest teams. Founded in 1892, the club, whose supporters have been known to raise banners proclaiming themselves as “the intellectuals,” actually traces their origins back to a literary group founded in the wake of the 1848 Revolution, whose five-pointed star Slavia later adopted as their own symbol.

Červenobílí (the red and whites) first competed in the Champions League in 2007, but their European peak came in 1996 when they reached the Europa League semi-finals. Locally, they often play baby-brothers to nemesis-neighbors Sparta, who have 38 Czech titles to their 22, but Slavia have played catch up in recent years under the stewardship of Jindřich Trpišovský. He joined in 2017, winning four league titles and four Czech cups, while enjoying regular European campaigns.

More: If you want to dig deeper into Slavia’s story, check out this excellent feature on Prague’s rich football history.

Marseille vs. Liverpool (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Although Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille are a combative outfit who physically personify their gritty city, Arne Slot would probably rather play anywhere than Anfield right now after a fourth draw in five on Saturday drew boos. With their title defense practically over, a night out in France offers respite from domestic travails, and the return of Mo Salah from AFCON should be welcomed now that his and Slot’s public spat has cooled. This erratic Marseille side can excite and frustrate in equal measure; in an off season for PSG, they’re third in Ligue 1, trailing Lens by eight points. In the Orange Vélodrome cauldron, Liverpool mustn't take their eyes off Igor Paixão, who has four goals in Marseille’s last five UCL matches.

Newcastle vs. PSV (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇳🇱

Newcastle are just about fighting on four fronts this year, so with matches piling up like broken New Year's resolutions, they’ll be determined to avoid the UCL playoffs. PSV have already conquered on English soil this season in their shock 4-1 siege of Anfield, but the Magpies have never lost to a Dutch team at St. James’ Park. Although Anthony Gordon’s been goal-shy in the Premier League this season, he has bagged five in this competition so far. With a 16-point lead in the Eredivisie, the Dutch champs can focus everything on staying in the Champions League top 24, but they’ve been hindered by the broken arm of USMNT forward Ricardo Pepi, who now faces a race to be fit for the World Cup.

Chelsea vs. Pafos (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇾

Lego, LinkedIn and David Brent jokes aside, Liam Rosenior has quickly forged an identity in his first few matches as Chelsea manager, with comparisons to Marco Bielsa’s high-intensity approach already being drawn. More importantly though, this is the David Luiz derby, and although Pafos have not scored in three away Champions League matches this season, while the Blues have netted in their last 21 European games, the 38-year-old club legend should be welcomed warmly on his Stamford Bridge return. With Chelsea 14th in the UCL table and three points off the top eight, they should win against the 26th-placed Cypriots to take their automatic qualification hopes into the final round of league-stage matches.

🗓️ You can find the full list of today’s UCL fixtures here.

It’s time for us to pick a legendary Champions League lineup for you to identify who the missing player is. This week, it comes from Manchester United’s XI when they faced Chelsea in that rainy Moscow final in 2008…

Email us (or reply to this newsletter) with your answer for a chance to win a much-coveted MiB patch!

Our last winner: Congratulations to Sam Bettis who was the first to correctly identify that Son Heung-min was Spurs’ missing striker in their legendary UCL semi-final against Erik ten Hag’s Ajax in 2019.

Get in touch and we’ll send your patch in the post, Sam! 📬

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