European Cup Fixtures This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & More

Greetings to another night of exciting European Cup football. Nine fixtures are set for this evening, including three English teams in play. The Blues meet Barça in the key match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the table is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.