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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine matches are planned for this evening, featuring 3 English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8:00 PM unless stated:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (17:45)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (17:45)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Villarreal meet Dortmund
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Marseille v Newcastle
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Blues lineup. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The sole past encounter involving Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle arrived in the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight win over Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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