Champions League Action This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & More

Welcome to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a possible twelve and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.