Welcome to another night of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine matches are set for this evening, with 3 English teams in play. The Blues meet Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.
Current Standings
It's the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.
Match Schedule
These are this evening's matches, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:
- Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Chelsea v Barcelona
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Newcastle travel to Marseille
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Squad Updates
Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.
Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.
Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Official Vincic (Slovenian).
Historical Context
The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.
Initial Game Reports
Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.
Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille
Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.
Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct progression 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 Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.
