🔗 Share this article

Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with three English teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, 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 Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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