European Cup Matches This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More

Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 games are planned for tonight, including three English teams in action. The Blues take on Barça in the standout match of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, so the table is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.