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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, including 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, so the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.