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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. 9 games are scheduled for tonight, featuring 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barça in the marquee match of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway point of the group phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between fifth and sixteenth position, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

Here are this evening's matches, each kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

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

Barcelona (possible four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Dani Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Barcelona and Chelsea have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal in the first half of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies arrived in the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win 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 manager, whose side are 6th in the European table, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Barcelona vs Chelsea. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Maradona is handling for that.