Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for tonight, featuring three English clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.
It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.
These are tonightâs games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:
Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from CĂŽte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.
Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.
Although Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.
Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. âThe Champions League is different to Premier League games,â said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. âI donât know if you can compare them.â
A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.
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