European Cup Action This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More
Greetings to a fresh evening of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for this evening, including three British teams in action. Chelsea face Barça in the standout match of the night, while The Magpies travel to Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.
Group Rankings
It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the rankings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British teams are presently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating 5th and 16th position, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.
This Evening's Games
These are this evening's games, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:
- Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
- Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
- Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
- Chelsea v Barcelona
- Villarreal meet Dortmund
- Man City v Leverkusen
- Marseille v Newcastle
- Napoli v Qarabag
- Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao
Lineup Changes
Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.
Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.
Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.
Referee Vincic (Slovenia).
Past Meetings
The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.
Initial Game Reports
Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.
Marseille v Newcastle Preview
Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.
It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”
We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.
