European Cup Fixtures This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games
Welcome to another night of electrifying Champions League soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, including three English teams in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.
League Table
We're at the halfway point of the league phase, so the rankings is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th position, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.
Match Schedule
These are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:
- Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Newcastle travel to Marseille
- Napoli v Qarabag
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Squad Updates
Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.
Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.
Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.
Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.
Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).
Previous Encounters
The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.
Early Match Updates
Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, 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 discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.
