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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup soccer. Nine matches are set for tonight, including 3 English teams in play. The Blues face Barcelona in the key fixture of the night, whilst Newcastle travel to Marseille and Manchester City host Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway point of the league stage, so the rankings is starting to take shape. All six English teams are currently in the upper twelve, but there are only two pts separating fifth and sixteenth position, so there's a hint of uncertainty about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

Here are this evening's fixtures, all starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

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

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Chelsea team. Dropped are Adarabioyo, Santos, Gittens, Joao Pedro and Delap.

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

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Robert Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Garnacho.

Substitutes: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Noah Darvich, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The only previous meeting involving Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2003-04, claimed by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal in the first half of the two early games. Dahl's 6th-minute sizzler has earned Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to the Dutch side.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Even though Newcastle arrived in the south of France fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having defeated Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole on the road victory since early April came in Brussels at Union Saint-Gilloise.

It's not that Howe was eager to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to Premier League games,” said the manager, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine points from a possible twelve and automatic progression to the last 16 nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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