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Welcome to another night of exciting European Cup football. 9 games are planned for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the evening, while The Magpies visit the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. All six English teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only two pts separating 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Squad Updates

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know 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 Diego Maradona is handling for that.