Champions League Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games
Welcome to a fresh night of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 matches are set for this evening, including three British teams in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.
League Table
It's the halfway stage of the group stage, so the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.
Tonight’s Fixtures
These are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Chelsea v Barcelona
- Dortmund v Villarreal
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Newcastle travel to Marseille
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Lineup Changes
Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Official Vincic (Slovenia).
Past Meetings
The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. 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 given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead at the Dutch side.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.
It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about 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 Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”
A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.
