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Welcome to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup soccer. Nine games are planned for tonight, with 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the midway point of the league stage, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English clubs are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating fifth and 16th place, thus there's a whiff of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

These are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Out go Tosin Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Liam Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (probable four-two-three-one): Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 points from a available twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Scott Murray, the minute-by-minute equivalent of Diego Maradona is handling for that.