🔗 Share this article

Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the table is taking form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

• 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
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve 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. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.