European Cup Matches Tonight: Chelsea v Barcelona & Additional Games
Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling Champions League soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for this evening, with three British teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
We're at the midway stage of the group phase, so the table is taking form. All six British clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.
Tonight’s Fixtures
Here are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Napoli v Qarabag
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Lineup Changes
Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.
Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.
Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenian).
Past Meetings
The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from CĂ´te d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.
Early Match Updates
Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.
Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille
Even though Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.
It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase 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 equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.
