🔗 Share this article

Welcome to another night of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with three English clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key match of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league stage, so the standings is beginning to form. All six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “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 possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.