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Greetings to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. Nine fixtures are planned for this evening, with 3 English clubs in action. The Blues take on Barça in the key match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and City welcome Leverkusen.

Group Rankings

We're at the halfway stage of the group phase, so the rankings is beginning to form. Each of the six British clubs are presently in the top 12, but there are only 2 pts between 5th and sixteenth place, thus there's a hint of volatility about the entire situation. All remains open.

This Evening's Games

Here are tonight’s fixtures, all starting at 8pm unless stated:

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

Lineup Changes

Fofana, Caicedo, Garnacho, Malo Gusto and Estevao join the Blues team. Dropped are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

Yamal starts for Barcelona; Rashford is among the substitutes.

The Blues (possible four-three-three) Sanchez; James, Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

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

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

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dario Fernandez, Bardghji.

Official Slavko Vincic (Slovenian).

Historical Context

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Europa League semifinal of 2004, won by an emerging superstar 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. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute goal has earned Jose Mourinho’s Benfica a one-nil advantage away to the Dutch side.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though The Magpies traveled to the south of France fresh from their confidence-boosting two-one home Premier League win against Manchester City on the weekend, and having beaten Union Saint-Gilloise, Benfica and Bilbao in the European Cup, their sole away win since early April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

Not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is distinct from Premier League games,” said the coach, whose team are sixth in the European table, with nine points from a available 12 and automatic qualification to the knockout phase almost within touching distance. “I am not sure if you can compare them.”

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