Greetings to another evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for this evening, with 3 English clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the standout match of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.
League Table
It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.
This Evening's Games
These are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:
- Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
- Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Team News
Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.
Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.
Official Vincic (Slovenia).
Previous Encounters
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. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.
Early Match Updates
Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.
Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille
Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.
Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “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 on duty for that.
