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Welcome to another night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee match of the evening, whilst Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, so the standings is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (possible 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.