🔗 Share this article European Cup Matches This Evening: Chelsea v Barcelona & Additional Games Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen. Current Standings We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for. Tonight’s Fixtures These are this evening's matches, each starting at 8pm except where noted: Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm) Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm) Bodo/Glimt v Juventus Barcelona take on Chelsea Villarreal meet Dortmund Man City v Leverkusen Newcastle travel to Marseille Napoli v Qarabag Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao Squad Updates Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap. Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes. Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho. Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski. Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji. Official Vincic (Slovenia). Historical Context The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters. Early Match Updates Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side. Marseille v Newcastle Preview Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise. It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.” We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.