Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.
Current Standings
We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the standings is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.
This Evening's Games
Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Squad Updates
Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.
Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.
Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
Previous Encounters
The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.
Early Match Updates
Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.
It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.
