🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, including three English teams in play. The Blues meet Barça in the standout match of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's matches, 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
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct 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 Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.