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Welcome to another night of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are set for tonight, featuring three English clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout match of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the rankings is beginning to form. All six British sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's games, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues side. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.