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Welcome to another night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 fixtures are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British clubs in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the standout fixture of the night, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

Current Standings

We're at the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the rankings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and sixteenth place, so there's a sense of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Marcus Rashford is among the substitutes.

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

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

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semifinal 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 a notable history.

Initial Game Reports

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Samuel Dahl's sixth-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only away win since early April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about 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 Champions League standings, with 9 pts from a available 12 and direct 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. Murray, the minute-by-minute version of Diego Maradona is on duty for that.