🔗 Share this article

Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League football. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, with 3 English teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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