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Greetings to another evening of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English teams in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the group stage, so the standings is starting to take shape. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two points separating 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

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

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only on the road win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct 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 Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is handling for that.