Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. Nine matches are set for tonight, including three English clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
We're at the halfway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.
Match Schedule
These are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8pm unless stated:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Lineup Changes
Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.
Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).
Previous Encounters
The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.
Initial Game Reports
Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.
It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”
We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.
