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Greetings to another night of exciting European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are set for this evening, including 3 English teams in action. Chelsea face Barcelona in the key match of the night, while The Magpies visit Marseille and Manchester City host Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, so the table is starting to take shape. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts between fifth and sixteenth place, so there's a hint of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all kicking off at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

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

Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Rashford is on the bench.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barcelona (probable four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City 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. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win over City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road victory since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic qualification to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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