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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, with three British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key match of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the standings is taking form. All six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic qualification 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 minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.