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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine games are planned for tonight, featuring three British clubs in play. The Blues meet Barça in the marquee fixture of the evening, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the league stage, meaning the standings is taking form. Each of the six British sides are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea side. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, claimed by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal in the first half of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute goal has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with nine pts from a available 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.