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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine fixtures are planned for tonight, including 3 British clubs in action. Chelsea meet Barça in the standout match of the night, whilst Newcastle visit Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. All six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only two points between 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. All remains open.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s matches, all kicking off at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Ajax 0-1 Benfica (5.45pm)
• 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
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Athletic Bilbao clash with Slavia Prague

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues side. Out go Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Official Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semi-final of 2003-04, claimed by an emerging superstar from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, the Portuguese side and Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole on the road win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, 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 am not sure if you can compare them.”

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