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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, including 3 British teams in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit Marseille and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the standings is taking form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Team News

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

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona 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 given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and direct 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 Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.