🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 English teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, so the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win 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 away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.