🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another night of exciting Champions League football. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, with three English teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.