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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 matches are scheduled for this evening, including 3 English clubs in action. The Blues face Barça in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the midway point of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative two-one home English top-flight win against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the MBM equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.