🔗 Share this article

Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. The Blues meet Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the table is taking form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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