🔗 Share this article Champions League Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games Greetings to another evening of exciting European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with three English clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen. Current Standings It's the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open. Tonight’s Fixtures Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted: Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm) Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45) Juventus face Bodo/Glimt Barcelona take on Chelsea Dortmund v Villarreal Man City v Leverkusen Newcastle travel to Marseille Napoli v Qarabag Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao Team News Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap. Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench. Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho. Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte. Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski. Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji. Referee Vincic (Slovenian). Previous Encounters The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history. Initial Game Reports Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax. Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise. Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available 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 Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.