🔗 Share this article

Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League football. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.