European Cup Fixtures This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & Additional Games
Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with 3 English clubs in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.
League Table
We're at the halfway point of the league stage, so the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.
Match Schedule
These are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8pm except where noted:
- 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
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Squad Updates
Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.
Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.
Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc 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, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea 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 sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.
Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille
Although Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.
It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.
