🔗 Share this article

Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, featuring three English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

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

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

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

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.