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Welcome to another night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are planned for tonight, including three English clubs in play. The Blues meet Barça in the standout fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

League Table

It's the midway stage of the league stage, so the rankings is taking form. All six English teams are currently in the top 12, however there are only 2 points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a sense of volatility about the whole thing. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Team News

Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Chelsea lineup. Excluded are Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

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

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Historical Context

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an emerging superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away victory since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to talk about the mental side of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

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