🔗 Share this article

Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, with 3 English teams in play. The Blues face Barça in the key match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six English clubs are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's matches, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.