🔗 Share this article European Cup Matches This Evening: Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen & More Greetings to a fresh evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for this evening, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea face Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City host Leverkusen. Current Standings We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open. Match Schedule Here are this evening's games, each starting at 8pm unless stated: Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45) Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm) Bodo/Glimt v Juventus Barcelona take on Chelsea Dortmund v Villarreal Leverkusen visit Man City Newcastle travel to Marseille Napoli v Qarabag Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague Lineup Changes Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap. Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench. Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho. Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte. Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski. Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji. Referee Vincic (Slovenia). Historical Context The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history. Initial Game Reports Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side. Marseille v Newcastle Preview Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG. Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side 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 twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.” We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.