European Cup Action Tonight: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games

Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the group stage, so the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s games, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.