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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are scheduled for tonight, including 3 English clubs in action. The Blues meet Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway point of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic progression 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. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is handling for that.