European Cup Matches Tonight: Chelsea v Barcelona & More

Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six British teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• 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
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

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

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.