Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying Champions League soccer. 9 games are set for tonight, with 3 English teams in play. The Blues take on Barça in the standout fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.
It's the halfway point of the group stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are presently in the top 12, but there are only two pts between fifth and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.
Here are tonight’s games, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:
Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.
Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.
The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.
Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.
Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).
The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.
Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.
Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.
It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”
A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.
A seasoned gaming enthusiast with over a decade of experience in reviewing online casinos and sharing winning strategies.
