Champions League Fixtures Tonight: Chelsea v Barcelona & More

Welcome to another evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 matches are scheduled for tonight, including three English teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. All six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are tonight’s matches, each starting at 8pm unless stated:

• 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
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.