Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup football. 9 matches are planned for tonight, including 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.
League Table
It's the halfway point of the group stage, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.
This Evening's Games
Here are this evening's matches, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
- 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
Team News
Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.
Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.
Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.
Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenia).
Previous Encounters
The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.
Early Match Updates
Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although The Magpies 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 Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.
It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”
We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.
