European Cup Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More

Greetings to another evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 British teams in action. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th position, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.