Champions League Fixtures Tonight: Chelsea v Barcelona & More
Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 matches are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
It's the midway stage of the group phase, so the table is beginning to form. All six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.
This Evening's Games
Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Lineup Changes
Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Official Vincic (Slovenian).
Previous Encounters
The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.
Initial Game Reports
Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.
Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille
Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.
It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare 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.
