European Cup Action Tonight: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More
Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are planned for this evening, including 3 British teams in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
It's the midway point of the group stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six English clubs are presently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.
Match Schedule
These are this evening's games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:
- Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
- Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
- Chelsea v Barcelona
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Leverkusen visit Man City
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Lineup Changes
Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.
Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenian).
Previous Encounters
The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from CĂ´te d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.
Initial Game Reports
Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at Ajax.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.
It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct 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 Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.
