European Cup Matches This Evening: Marseille v Newcastle & More
Welcome to another evening of exciting Champions League soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, including three English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
We're at the midway point of the group stage, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.
Match Schedule
Here are tonight’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
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Newcastle travel to Marseille
- Napoli v Qarabag
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Squad Updates
Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.
Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.
Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenia).
Past Meetings
The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from CĂ´te d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.
Initial Game Reports
Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil 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 over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.
Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.
