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Greetings to a fresh evening of electrifying European Cup football. Nine games are planned for this evening, featuring 3 English clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the marquee fixture of the evening, whilst The Magpies visit the French side and City host Leverkusen.

Current Standings

It's the midway stage of the league phase, meaning the standings is beginning to form. Each of the six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only two points separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a whiff of snakes and ladders about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Tonight’s Fixtures

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

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea side. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Marcus Rashford is on the bench.

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

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

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, 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.

Early Match Updates

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

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Although The Magpies arrived in the French south fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home English top-flight victory against City on Saturday, and having beaten Union SG, the Portuguese side and Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, their sole away win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this travel sickness. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose side are sixth in the European table, with nine pts from a possible 12 and automatic progression to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I don’t know if you can compare 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.