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Greetings to another evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 games are set for this evening, with 3 English clubs in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit Marseille and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are currently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s games, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

Chelsea (probable 4-3-3) Sanchez; Reece James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

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

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.