🔗 Share this article

Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling Champions League soccer. 9 matches are planned for this evening, including 3 British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway stage of the group stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are this evening'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
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

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

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible twelve 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 Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.