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Greetings to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup football. 9 matches are planned for tonight, featuring three British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barça in the marquee match of the evening, while Newcastle travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Bayer Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway stage of the group stage, so the table is beginning to form. All six British teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points between 5th and 16th position, thus there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

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

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

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

Chelsea (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Garnacho.

Subs: Kjell Scherpen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Buonanotte.

Barça (possible 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski.

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

Referee Vincic (Slovenia).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Marseille and Newcastle was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, claimed by an rising star from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have not faced each other previously. Chelsea and Barcelona have some past encounters.

Early Match Updates

Just one goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although Newcastle traveled to the French south coming off their restorative two-one home Premier League victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is different to Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible 12 and automatic qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

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