Champions League Action This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & Additional Games

Greetings to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City 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 6th-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.