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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, featuring 3 British clubs in play. The Blues take on Barça in the key match of the evening, whilst Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the group phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are this evening's matches, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City 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. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is on duty for that.