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Greetings to another night of electrifying European Cup soccer. 9 games are planned for tonight, with three British clubs in action. Chelsea face Barça in the key match of the night, while Newcastle visit the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

It's the halfway stage of the league phase, meaning the table is beginning to form. Each of the six English sides are currently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 pts separating 5th and 16th place, so there's a hint of volatility about the whole thing. Everything is to play for.

Match Schedule

Here are tonight’s games, all starting at 8pm except where noted:

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

Squad Updates

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao all come into the Blues team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Delap.

Lamine Yamal is in the starting lineup for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Past Meetings

The only previous meeting between Marseille and Newcastle was the Uefa Cup semifinal of 2003-04, won by an rising star from Côte d'Ivoire. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have never met before. Chelsea and Barcelona have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Dahl's sixth-minute goal has given Benfica under Mourinho a one-nil lead away to Ajax.

Marseille v Newcastle Preview

Although The Magpies traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative two-one home English top-flight victory against City on the weekend, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Bilbao in the Champions League, their only on the road win since the start of April came in Brussels at Union SG.

It's not that Eddie Howe was overly keen to talk about the psychological aspect of this away form issue. “The European Cup is distinct from domestic games,” said the coach, whose side are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a available 12 and direct progression to the knockout phase nearly secured. “I am not sure if you can draw parallels between them.”

We have a separate live blog for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Diego Maradona is handling for that.