🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another night of exciting European Cup football. 9 fixtures are set for tonight, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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