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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 fixtures are planned for tonight, with three British clubs in play. Chelsea meet Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, while Newcastle travel to the French side and City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the halfway point of the group phase, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British sides are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

Tonight’s Fixtures

Here are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Team News

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barcelona (possible 4-2-3-1): Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Subs: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their restorative two-one home Premier League victory over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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