🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine games are planned for this evening, featuring three British teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, while Newcastle visit the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's fixtures, each kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single 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 traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.