Champions League Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games
Greetings to another evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring 3 English teams in action. The Blues face Barcelona in the key match of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
It's the midway point of the league phase, so the table is starting to take shape. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.
Tonight’s Fixtures
These are tonight’s fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Barcelona take on Chelsea
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Napoli v Qarabag
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Lineup Changes
Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.
Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.
Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Official Vincic (Slovenian).
Previous Encounters
The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.
Initial Game Reports
Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.
Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.
