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Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine fixtures are set for tonight, including 3 British teams in action. The Blues take on Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six English clubs are currently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute strike has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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