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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup football. Nine games are set for this evening, featuring three English clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the key fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway stage of the group phase, so the standings is beginning to form. All six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s games, all kicking off at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues lineup. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Robert Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Maradona is on duty for that.