🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, with 3 British teams in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the marquee match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s games, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (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
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

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

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

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

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.