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Welcome to a fresh night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 games are scheduled for this evening, with 3 British teams in play. Chelsea take on Barcelona in the marquee match of the evening, while Newcastle visit the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the league phase, meaning the rankings is taking form. All six English teams are presently in the upper twelve, but there are only 2 points separating 5th and sixteenth position, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

These are tonight’s matches, all starting at 8:00 PM unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Out go Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

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

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

Barcelona (probable 4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski.

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

Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an emerging star from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the two early games. Dahl's sixth-minute strike has given Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a 1-0 lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France coming off their confidence-boosting 2-1 home English top-flight win over Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Eddie Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the European table, with 9 pts from a possible twelve and direct qualification to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can draw parallels between them.”

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