Champions League Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games

Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup football. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, with three English clubs in play. Chelsea face Barça in the standout match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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