🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another evening of electrifying Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for tonight, with 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway point of the group phase, so the standings is taking form. All six British sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only two points between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.