🔗 Share this article Champions League Action Tonight: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & Additional Games Greetings to a fresh night of exciting Champions League soccer. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring 3 British teams in play. Chelsea face Barça in the marquee fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen. League Table It's the midway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs. Tonight’s Fixtures Here are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted: Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm) Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45) Juventus face Bodo/Glimt Chelsea v Barcelona Dortmund v Villarreal Man City v Leverkusen Newcastle travel to Marseille Napoli v Qarabag Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao Squad Updates Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues side. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap. Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench. The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho. Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski. Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji. Referee Vincic (Slovenia). Previous Encounters The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters. Early Match Updates Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side. Marseille v Newcastle Preview Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG. Not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.” We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.