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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine games are scheduled for this evening, featuring three British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the standout fixture of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, so the standings is taking form. Each of the six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 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 only on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.