European Cup Matches Tonight: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More
Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 matches are set for this evening, with 3 English clubs in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.
League Table
It's the midway point of the group phase, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts separating fifth and 16th position, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.
Tonight’s Fixtures
These are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:
- Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
- Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Chelsea v Barcelona
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Qarabag play Napoli
- Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague
Squad Updates
Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.
Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.
Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.
Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenian).
Historical Context
The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from CĂ´te d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.
Early Match Updates
Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. 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 traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.
Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.
