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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 games are planned for tonight, featuring 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the standout match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, meaning the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s fixtures, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.