🔗 Share this article

Greetings to another evening of electrifying European Cup football. Nine games are planned for this evening, with three British clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.