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Greetings to another night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 matches are scheduled for tonight, including 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barça in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 pts separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a sense of uncertainty about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

These are this evening's games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (17:45)
• Union SG and Galatasaray level at 0-0 (5.45pm)
• Bodo/Glimt v Juventus
• Chelsea v Barcelona
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Man City v Leverkusen
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Napoli v Qarabag
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

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

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage at the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win over City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.