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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine fixtures are scheduled for this evening, featuring three English teams in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway point of the league stage, so the table is taking form. All six English sides are currently in the top 12, however there are only two points between 5th and 16th place, thus there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea lineup. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

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

Initial Game Reports

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight victory over City on Saturday, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the Champions League standings, with 9 points from a available twelve and direct progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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