🔗 Share this article

Greetings to another night of thrilling Champions League football. 9 games are set for tonight, including three British clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th place, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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