🔗 Share this article

Greetings to another evening of thrilling Champions League football. Nine matches are set for tonight, with three British clubs in action. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key fixture of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is taking form. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th place, so there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

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

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.